


A Black Star

by AugustStories



Series: Redemption Verse [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Family, Flashbacks, Good Regulus Black, No Snape, POV Regulus Black, Redemption, Regulus Black Lives, Regulus Black-centric, black brothers, minor pairings in the background I won't list to not misdirect interest, some characters only turn up in flashbacks or minor roles, story goes wildly off canon with the start of '93 schoolyear at the latest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-01
Updated: 2019-06-01
Packaged: 2019-10-02 02:47:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 131,895
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17256191
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AugustStories/pseuds/AugustStories
Summary: "I shouldn't even be alive. For all intents and purposes I should have died that night in the cave but I didn't, and I can't help but think it was for a reason. I know what I have to do, and I know it is the right thing to. I will not betray you, I will not kill you, I will not save you either, I will not give you what you think you deserve. My choice is easier: I will not give up on our family. The rest is entirely up to you."--Regulus Black lives and builts himself a life from the ruins of his family name, taking over as Potions teacher he reconnects with old friends, finds new ones and swears to himself to try and protect future generations from his own fate.In the summer of 1993 his own brother throws a wrench into the peaceful tranquility of his life, Sirius always had a talent for the wrong kind of trouble.





	1. Cover Art + Preface

**Author's Note:**

> I don't think there is a lot of things to say, this is something I have been wanting to write for a long time already and somehow it turned into being my Nano project this year. Story isn't yet fully finished but there is a lot written already so I thought why not start posting.
> 
> The story doesn't always take itself too seriously, I just wanted some fun to write a redemption story for Regulus.

This beautiful cover art was made by one of my best friends. And you can find Tess [**here**](https://teresa-sc.tumblr.com/) to see more of her amazing art work.

 

**1979 – Alive But Terrified**

 

The first time he woke up after the cave, he didn't even see or understand where he was, all he felt was pain.

 

Someone set a cup to his lips and he wanted to fight but his limbs were unable to move but then wonderful cold water was running past his dried lips and he realized how thirsty he was.

 

A familiar soothing voice calmed him, he was safe.

 

No more cave.

 

No more poison.

 

\--

 

The second, third and fourth time went just the same.

 

\--

 

The fifth time he woke he managed to blink open his eyes and focus on Kreacher hovering at his side, holding a cup of water again and with weak, terribly weak hands Regulus got to hold the cup himself to drink from it.

 

"The locket?"

 

"Safe, Master."

 

Regulus passed out again.

 

\--

 

The seventh time Regulus opened his eyes in his childhood bedroom, he was still dizzy, everything hurt and his limbs felt like paper and stones at the same time. His head was thundering and even thinking brought pain along.

 

Didn't help that when prompted, Kreacher told him it had been weeks since they had gone into the cave, Regulus had been unconscious for weeks and now he was feverish and he could barely keep down the soup that Kreacher brought him.

 

Downstairs somewhere his mother raged, alone, not knowing Regulus was right up here in his room.

 

"The locket?"

 

"Safe, Master."

 

Regulus went back to sleep.

 

\--

 

"Kreacher thinks Master's magic will return when he is better. Magic was the only thing keeping Master alive."

 

"The locket?"

 

"Safe."

 

\--

 

"We have to leave," Regulus whispered a few short days after first waking up when Kreacher dabbed away the sweat on his face and brushed his hair because everything above breathing hurt too much, "We need to leave, Kreacher. Take the locket and go somewhere safe."

"Master Regulus is sick," Kreacher whimpered and Regulus could see the fight in those round eyes, the fight between following Regulus' orders and doing everything to make sure Regulus would be taken care of. The latter of which would include telling the mad woman living in the house who had no idea about her son not having died.

 

Regulus saw the newspaper headlines, Kreacher showed him, the world thought Regulus Black was dead.

 

"You can take care of me, I'll be alright, but I won't be if they discover I'm alive. If _he_ finds out. Kreacher, we have to hide." Even the hinting at the Dark Lord had Kreacher cover and Regulus clutched the elf's hand, "Kreacher, please, just until I'm better." Kreacher watched him for a moment but then he dropped the towel back into the basin filled with fresh water and got down from the bed.

"Kreacher will prepare everything we will need," he decided and leaned into the clumsy weak hand that Regulus forced up to cup his face, "Master better think of a safe location, Kreacher knows none."

 

"Thank you, my friend."

 

\--

 

He took one last look at his childhood room surrounding him, took one last breath of the stale air of Grimmaudplace, one last glimpse of a life that had been easy but so wrong, then he closed his eyes and squeezed Kreacher's hand.

 

With a pop in his ears, his old life disappeared.

 

Regulus Arcturus Black, a Death Eater no more.

 


	2. Prologue

**1982 – A Path to Redemption Begins**

 

A few months after Voldemort's fall winter was slowly edging into spring in London and Regulus Black found himself pinching the bridge of his nose in a Wizengamot hearing room to fight off a headache while the witch overseeing his case read through Dumbledore's impossibly long letter in a last preparation for the trial to come in half an hour.

 

The him in question wasn't here today where Regulus was awaiting a sentence on his trial, ever since Regulus had gone to him three months ago and come clean about horcruxes and Founder's heirlooms and disgustingly dark magic, the old headmaster had been busy. The locket remained hidden in a safe space that Regulus would not reveal until he was sure he could absolutely trust Dumbledore.

 

But even like this, after just giving him knowledge of Voldemort's vile ways, Dumbledore had not hesitated in helping to get Regulus the pardon he deserved. He had defected before Voldemort's fall, the first ever Death Eater who had done so and survived. Regulus was a bit less convinced that he deserved anything.

 

What had followed were endless long weeks on proving to the Ministry that he had defected, that he had not actually died and was indeed Regulus Black, the second was easier done than the first. Admittedly it was easier to sentence an alive man to Azkaban than a dead one. Regulus had given names and locations, had given proof for involvment of people that hadn't taken the marks and couldn't be easily identified.

 

(He gave up trying to frame Lucius bloody Malfoy after he realized that even now one could still buy themselves out of everything in this government.)

 

"I think Dumbledore's word will convince them the most," his defense lawyer decided when she was done with her reading and Regulus gave her a faint fake smile, he just wanted to get this over with, "That, and you not being off age when you took the mark. And remember to push on Bellatrix Lestrange's influence on you, that'll help more than you might think actually in getting you pardoned."

 

Hurray.

 

Regulus felt sick when they arrived in the great round hall of the Wizengamot, he was twenty years old and felt like a little boy with an old soul as he took a seat and awaited something out of his hands. He spotted Narzissa and Lucius in the stands and pretended they weren't there. He spotted Barty Courch Senior in the onlookers and wanted to throw up.

 

"Mister Black," the witch in lead of this trial began after speeches had been made and arguments had taken place, it was rather obvious that there were two fractions in the gamot with violently opposing opinions over what to do with him. "How many students in your year or around it took the Dark Mark because they felt pressured into it?" Some members of the gamot seemed to want to protest but a well placed glare from the witch having posed her question stopped them in their place.

 

Regulus vaguely recalled her being called Bones.

 

"Please answer the question, Mister Black."

 

"Many of them. There was certainly pressure from parents and family to do right, to bring pride home and fall in line in what it meant to be a good pureblood. And as hard as it might be to hear it, at some point the pressure came from the supposed good guys, too," Regulus began his answer and the whole hall went silent, "There has always been a rivalry between Hogwarts houses, and it's healthy to have some competition, but only to a certain degree. My last three years, being a Slytherin? It came with not only prejudices, it came with being called a Death Eater in training, it came with dark arts everywhere the teachers couldn't see. And no one, _no one_ offering a hand to find a way out of there. When you're only surrounded by people who push you further and further into those circles, then there is no way out for you, not when you have no one to ask for help. Because who would have? Who didn't see a green tie and thought of murder and betrayal and dark magic? I was sixteen when I took the mark, as was Barty Crouch Junior, Evan Rosier was fifteen still, we were the youngest that I know of, things might have changed after I went into hiding."

 

Judge Bones shook her head, she looked pensive and made a gesture for Regulus to continue, she was the only one who met his eyes.

 

"We were stupid teenagers who saw no other way. I knew deep down that what I was doing was wrong but it was expected of me. And to all of you who want to say why not stand against it, why not refuse, I say how. How stand against Voldemort's power if no one would have even listened to you? Where should I have gone? Who would have let me talk long enough instead of giving me a free pass to Azkaban? Who might have trusted me enough to not hex me on sight? I regretted what I did so I made that impossible seeming decision to turn my back on Voldemort. I can't talk for others but I am sure that I was not the only one who wanted out at some point, I was just lucky enough to carry a name that gave me more freedom where they had none. We should have known better, yes, but even if we had, there would have been no one to protect us. Being a Slytherin doesn't make you a dark wizard or witch, being a pureblood doesn't make a Death Eater, it's the choices we made. I made one when I was sixteen, I made another when I was seventeen and defected, and now I made another choice by stopping to hide away. I stand here to face this trial because I believe in justice, in standing up for my mistakes, all I can ask in turn is for everyone here, for everyone in our society really, to ask themselves what they would have done if a sixteen year old terrified boy had appeared on their doorstep and asked for help." Regulus wound down again and felt his heart pounding in his chest, "I know what I'll do now."

 

The gamot turned in for decision making then and Regulus sat calm and patient on his chair, he had gotten good in waiting, and he was powerless now anyway. He had money, of course, but he would never stoop so low as to buy his way out of the law. He had done what he did and he was going to stand in for his mistakes, if that meant Azkaban then so be it.

 

When the gamot returned, Judge Bones took her place with a smile and despite it all Regulus could barely breathe, here it was now, the moment had come.

 

"The Wizengamot has decided to pardon Regulus Arcturus Black for the crime of being a Death Eater under the overwhelming proof of his youth and the lack of any further crimes committed as a servant of Lord Voldemort. We recognize the accused's defections from the ranks of the Death Eaters and clear him of all charges. You're a free man, Mister Black, I hope you can be the helping hand for others if they need it. I know that I will try my best to do so as well."

 

Regulus inclined his head to her and then they were all dismissed, he thanked his lawyer for her help and she recommended her services for any future dealings he might have with the law, then doubled back on it and emphasized that she meant non-criminal dealings with the magical justice system. Regulus found himself smiling for the first time that day and then left the Justice Department on quick feet, itching to inform Kreacher to soothe his nerves.

 

\--

 

"Regulus!"

 

The call of his name in that still achingly familiar voice had Regulus only speed up his steps, he had just briefly stopped by the owlery on his way out of the ministry to send a message back to Kreacher over his newly declared freedom, now he wanted home.

 

"Regulus, please!"

 

Some more steps and he had reached the elevators and then he could swoosh up to the atrium, get lost in the crowd for a suffocating few minutes before he could leave this place. His limbs were buzzing with the freedom a pardon brought, his mind was buzzing with the possibilities that laid before him now.

 

He didn't want to think about the past, not now.

 

Some people threw him looks but none of them were hostile, just curious, and no one was rude in it, they even made room for him on the rather full elevator when another call of his name had him wince.

 

He caught sight of Narzissa' ever expressionless face just briefly as the elevator rugged into motion, her dress fitting perfectly, her hair poised to perfection, of course the perfect spotless image of a pureblood wife while her husband lied to the Ministry about a bloody Imperius that had never existed.

 

He missed Narzissa, missed his cousin dearly and he still loved her very much, wanted to meet her little son, but not with Lucius in their lives. Not with a deceiving, lying, bastardy Lucius Malfoy in her life.

 

The elevator rose up and he took a shuddering breath, hands shaking beneath his cloak.

 

\--

 

Regulus took a deep breath the second he was out of the Ministry and back in fresh air, as fresh as it could ever be deep in the city heart of London. He longed for the silence and the ever familiar walls of Grimmaudplace and it was tempting to disapparate right where he stood but the last thing he needed now was to have a Ministry investigation on his neck about magic reveals to muggles.

 

His official pardon was two hours old now, might want to wait another week or so before tempting fate again.

 

And judging by how hard his heart was pounding again in his chest, he was in no state to apparate anyway, not with how all over the place his nerves and thoughts were. With his magic still recovering even now, Regulus would only splinter himself and give Kreacher an unnecessary fright or he would land himself somewhere in the bloody countryside even further from home. Then he would have to call Kreacher for sure and get a lecture in turn for not having called him right away, and in now way was Regulus Black ever caught using the damn Knight Bus.

 

Heaving a sigh, he gave in to walking around until he could center himself again, get himself together enough that he had control of his magic, and bitterly accept the fact that he would find himself too worn out to even use a summoning spell the next three days.

 

What he wasn't prepared for at all once he had turned the corner into another muggle street was the hand landing on his shoulder to gently stop him. Regulus felt all instincts turn to fight, fingers curling around the wand in his sleeve as he whirled around, defensive spells already on his lips. All of it was forgotten though the second he laid eyes on the man who had stopped him, limbs freezing up from head to toes.

 

Kind blue eyes watched him behind a messy sandy blond fringe, "Regulus," he got greeted by a soft voice he hadn't heard in years, and it having nothing to do with nearly three years of self imposed exile within his own four walls, the last time certainly having been in Hogwarts time still. Hogwarts where the young man standing in front of him had been part of a friendship bond that Regulus had despised.

 

And now this man was alone, just like Regulus was himself.

 

Void of any and all friendship.

 

How funny life could be.

 

"Mister Lupin," he said, hoped and prayed to Merlin that his voice or face didn't show how fucking terrified he was. Remus Lupin was one of the best wizards of their generation, one had to be stupid and downright suicidal to attack him this out in the open, especially with weakened magical abilities. Even Regulus' best stunner would just tickle the other man right now probably. Lupin looked tired though, no doubt worked up by all these trials and sentences as Regulus was, if not more after all he had lost, all the betrayals that had hit him.

 

Regulus knew what betrayal felt like, but none of his had ever gotten his closest friends killed, in his life they had managed that quite well on their own.

 

"I was wondering if we could talk," Lupin offered up to him with a smile, small it may be but it was there, more than Regulus could conjure up, "If you have the time." Lupin added within the same breath still and flattened a wrinkle in his shirt, not the best clothes, his cloak was torn and mended in two places, but Regulus had never really seen him in fancy clothes during their shared Hogwarts time.

 

He knew next to nothing about Lupin he realized then, had been way too focused on James bloody Potter taking his brother away from him to give bigger notice to the other Marauders. Pettigrew had been thin air even on the best of his days and Lupin had only ever been a background figure behind the oh so charming disposition of Potter and Regulus' own treacherous brother.

 

He didn't know if it was fear, loneliness, exhaustion or plain boredom, but it was clearly something in him that made him reply with an affirmative and then follow Lupin to a pub across the street.

 

Maybe his family's madness was simply catching up with him as well.

 

\--

 

They took a table at the far back of this shady looking establishment, it was clearly a muggle pub and not something that Regulus would have ever stepped into if he were still master of his own senses but he could hardly turn up with Lupin at the places he knew. Most of all because their inhabitants or costumers were no doubt still itching to hex and curse Regulus all the way to next Sunday.

 

Here, he was eyed as well, certainly because he was dressed better and smarter than the crowd here could buy for themselves. He let Lupin order them something, him apparently familiar with the pub, the watching eyes and the people here, if the way he greeted and was greeted by the barista was any indication.

 

Regulus remained silent, sitting quite stiff back against this ratty bench that seemed to want to swallow his frame up, watching Lupin observe the crowd, as if there was something fascinating in these people. He hadn't aged well, the one Marauder now left, looked far older than his 22 years but in his defense Regulus didn't feel like not yet 21 either.

 

Regulus hadn't felt his age since he was ten years old and stood witnessing his parents rage over his brother having been sorted into the wrong house.

 

"I must admit it was a rather spontaneous idea to ask you here," Lupin began after another moment and Regulus raised an eyebrow, he hadn't expected Lupin to be present for the trials but he wasn't surprised over him being there either. It was probably an open secret by now that Lupin had been part of Dumbledore's not so secret group of vigilantes who had gone against the Dark Lord and his followers, just like damnable Potter and Regulus' brother had been.

 

Until Sirius must have snapped.

 

"I wasn't planning on coming out here at all, but then Mary visited me a couple of weeks ago and brought me quite surprising news." Lupin continued and then looked over to Regulus, staring him right in the eyes with those blue ones of his that had already seemed to see way more than someone wanted to show when the man had still been a child in Hogwarts. "James and I had to quite literally sit on Sirius to keep him from going to your funeral, fearing that he'd be blown to pieces right over your apparently now empty coffin. Unless your family has put their fingers into necromancy now as well."

 

He let that sink in for a moment, the knowledge that Sirius had wanted to go for his funeral, that there had been one in the first place without a body. Kreacher had never mentioned it, had probably thought that Regulus might not take the news well, to think of his family or at least parts of it grieving for him.

 

"No necromancy. I cannot say what was in the coffin, I fear I had no access to a lot of unbiased and unfiltered information for the last almost three years until about a few weeks ago." Regulus brought his message across, answering the question that hadn't even been really there. A moment passed when the barista brought their drinks, Regulus hoped it was something with a shot, he needed alcohol to get through this.

 

Lupin ordered food even and on another truly unusual spur of the moment decision Regulus found himself saying "the same for me." 

"I'm sure that I'm the last face you wanna see right now," Lupin went on when they were alone again, Regulus bit himself back a comment over finding a good number of people he would put even before Lupin on that list. "But when I saw you outside the Ministry, I knew I needed to talk to you. Especially after I heard that Dumbledore helped clear your name?"

 

Ah, finally a question.

 

"Professor Dumbledore did give a statement to the Wizengamot in my favor, yes, indeed, though I do not surprise you for sure when I tell you that I have no intention of letting you know what that entailed. The headmaster and I have an agreement, that's all you need to know." Regulus made clear where he stood and though Lupin's eyebrow twitched hard, he nodded, showing that he had been the smart one in that ragtag group of his.

 

"For all the good it does now," Lupin spoke then with a grimace, lowering his eyes to the drink in his hand for a long deep breath before looking up again, "Had you come to any of us, James, Sirius or me, we would have listened and not just hexed you on sight." Regulus inclined his head, it felt good to hear those words, for all the good it did indeed not do.

"A good sentiment, Lupin, but what had to be done back then, it had to be done by myself. Alone. The last two and a half years, I needed to be alone there, too." Speaking it out made it sound even more lonely than it had been, he hadn't been alone, not truly, but he had exiled himself away from the magical world.

 

Because he had to.

 

"And for all it's worth from my side, I'm sorry over what happened. As much as I despised James Potter, I didn't wish him to die, least of all his wife and child. And I cannot say if me being on any side in this war instead of vanished from the earth would have prevented Sirius from doing what he did. I never thought my brother would ever turn his back on the good guys but I've learned very early on that I've never known my brother at all." Regulus explained bitterly and then took a deep swallow of whatever vile concoction was in this glass, it felt good, warmed him quickly.

 

And the burn in his throat made him feel alive.

 

Lupin's face darkened and he glowered into his own glass, "Yes, I know how that feels." The words were barely audible and Regulus still winced. He had only ever really let a select few of his friends close, Barty, Marc, Adrienna and of course most of all Evan. Evan had been family, the only one close in age to him really in their wider circles, becoming friends had only been natural, they had had so much in common, trust had been so easy. Until they had grown up and Regulus pulling into himself even more led Evan to latch on only harder, protective until the bitter end. Shown the best in Evan being fully committed to the Death Eater life after Regulus' death and dying for his stupidity and his blindness, probably thinking that was what Regulus would have wanted.

 

Marc and Adrienna. Marc who had been their friend until that moment where three forearms hadn't been blank anymore, where a Ravenclaw had stared at them with so much disgust that Regulus had felt his blood turn to ice, where a friend had turned his back on them and never once looked back. And Adrienna, forced to the sidelines by the archaic rules of their society, she had been such a fiery storm, so many dreams and then a baby right out of school, rocking her child to sleep while mourning for a friend.

 

Barty was another story, his other best friend, the only one aside from Kreacher whom Regulus had ever trusted with secrets that he later couldn't tell Evan...right until he couldn't anymore, right until the stakes became too high. He wondered still if being honest to him, of bringing even one person into his plans, namely Evan or Barty, might have changed anything, made it easier. If it could have kept Evan from losing himself and following his brothers into their fanatic fantasies, kept Barty from letting Bellatrix shape him into a perfect sadistic creature in his grief over a friend's death

 

(Or was it friends' deaths? Had it been Regulus' death that had pushed Barty into being Bella's pet or was it Evan's?)

 

What had Barty thought when he had heard? Which rumor had he believed? Had he doubted? Had he looked for Regulus? How hard had Evan been hit? How much had it destroyed him to not have been anywhere close to protect the friend he had sworn to never leave?

 

How much news trickled into Azkaban now? Would Barty know? What would he think of his best friend now? Would he ask himself like Regulus did: had they ever truly been best friends?

 

"Sometimes we get deceived by those we think we know inside out," he commented and then smiled faintly at the barista as she set down their plates before taking her leave again.

"Does that go for you as well? You went into the grave a Death Eater, an enemy, and you return from it the only defector there ever was before the war was over." Lupin told him with a crooked little smile and Regulus shrugged his shoulders, "Seems to me like someone with a lot of enemies out here."

 

"I know where I am standing now, Lupin, and it's not survival instinct or being a cowardic Ministry arse licking Death Eater who lies about being under the Imperio," Regulus fell into a rant and found nearly satisfaction in how Lupin quite unshockingly raised a patient eyebrow, nobody with a brain was going to buy Malfoy's scheme, "I defected."

"I got that part," Lupin told him and his ever calm patient ways were like ice on this ugly thing threatening to roll up Regulus' chest, "I'm not here to accuse you of any shady behavior. You're not Lucius Malfoy, everyone who ever even slightly knew you can see that. And deceiving Dumbledore? Good luck."

 

"Sirius had."

 

"Deceiving him _again_ won't happen," Lupin said with his voice sharpening a little and Regulus gave a barely there twitch of his lips. Out of all four Marauders Lupin had always been the one most troubling to rile up, his brother and Potter had carried fire that burned too bright, and even piggly little cowardic Pettigrew had squeaked quick. Lupin was an unmovable rock in the storm, it made Regulus miss a certain friend even more, he wondered what Marculus Selwyn had made of himself, if he was still around. He hadn't spoken to his then Ravenclaw friend since Sixth Year.

 

Maybe he would reach out now? If wherever he had holed himself up in after graduation had any access to the papers.

 

"I came back to help, to identify Death Eaters and sympathisants. I cannot keep Malfoy off the streets, but I gave them names, gave them places and I will continue to do so if anything comes to my ears," Regulus knew he was getting too fired up but something in Lupin's eyes, this flicker of doubt, this spark of hesitation, it hit something vital in him, "I came back into the light because I want to clear my family's name, I want the name Black to mean something else but death, despair and suffering again. I came back because you and I, we both know that Voldemort's fall doesn't mean the end of anything, there is always gonna be someone falling for the allure of darkness, and just as well there is gonna be another Regulus Black, another child who is too young and too frightened to make the right choices. I came back because I want to make a _difference_."

 

He ended with a huff and then leaned back against the bench, picking at the chips on his plate, arguing had always made him hungry. It was a miracle a childhood with Sirius and his parents hadn't made him fat.

 

Lupin smiled at him and Regulus rolled his eyes, of course it had been a test, he couldn't even blame the other man. Sirius' betrayal had hit him hard and unexpected, how much harder did it have to be for Lupin to find trust for other people and their agendas.

 

They left it unfinished that day, situation unresolved and how could it have ever found a solution, both of them messed up as they were, carrying guilt and grief like others did only relief in those months after Voldemort's defeat. They finished their plates and their drinks, but not really the conversation until Lupin caught sight of the time and had to leave.

 

He disapparated in the little alley next to the pub and Regulus watched him, not knowing if Lupin thought him coward, traitor or turncloak now. He himself walked home then, the whole one and half hours back to Grimmaudplace, and weirdly enough he felt so happy doing it, free and for once not caring about the uncertainties of his life.

 

\--

 

Regulus returned home to a frazzled Kreacher pulling open the front door the second Regulus had stepped past the wards on the front steps, wide round eyes blinking up at him.

 

"What?" Regulus asked in incredulous fondness over Kreacher's worry, "I sent you a fire message right away. I was pardoned, I'm free," he argued and stepped around Kreacher into the house, hanging up his coat he had been carrying for the last hour because spring was finally underfoot and now after lunchtime it was warm enough without one outside.

 

"Kreacher was not worried about Master Regulus' sentencing, Kreacher knew Master was innocent. He deserves freedom." Kreacher was mumbling while he closed the door and followed Regulus into the dining room on quiet feet, "Kreacher was worried because Master took such a long time to return after his message." Regulus cringed and felt guilty for not having sent another message after Lupin had asked him to talk.

 

"I got held up outside the Ministry. Some people to talk to but it's fine, Kreacher," he explained and begged his little friend closer where he had stopped at a cabinet below the one window in the room. Kreacher gave a sigh and leaned against Regulus' leg, letting him stroke behind one floppy ear. "I even had lunch," he added after a moment of silence, knowing that Kreacher would be delighted to hear it. "Say, Kreacher, do we have a pen?"

 

"A pen, Master?"

 

Regulus smiled over Kreacher's confusion, opening a few drawers to find paper at least, something so mundane as a Muggle pen wouldn't be found dead in the open dining room on the first floor, not where guests could see. "Yes, a pen. I'm feeling like going outside to the park, the sun is wonderful this afternoon and you keep on telling me yourself I need some sun and fresh air." His search brought up a notebook with a half worn cover and Regulus recognized it as one where his father had sometimes made notes in while they entertained guests.

 

Stimulating conversations bringing up ideas. His mother had always tittered at his father for that breech in manners in front of their guests, father hadn't cared. He grabbed the notebook and closed the drawers again, looking down to Kreacher, meeting happy eyes.

 

" _Do_ we have a pen? I'd like to write down some thoughts and plans now where I know I'll have the time to bring them into being, and I'll be eyed quite strangely if I sit outside with a quill." Regulus pointed out and Kreacher cracked himself away with an eyeroll, hopefully searching for a pen, "I saw that!" Regulus called after him still and then looked around the dining room, at the dark colors, the frightening display of dark artefacts, the depressing lack of life and warmth.

 

This wasn't the home he wanted to make for himself now in this second life he had been given.

 

"Oh, and Kreacher?" He yelled once he was back in the corridor, "Can you find out for me what happened to Marculus Selwyn after he graduated?" Kreacher popped back in a step away from him, holding out a red pen that Regulus feared had been taken from his brother's sealed off room, "Thank you. I'll stay in sight of the house, alright? If something looks suspicious, I'll call you right away. And if in turn something turns up here, you can come and get me as well."

 

"Yes, Master, and Kreacher will do his best to find Master Regulus' old friend." Kreacher assured him and then basically shoved Regulus out of the front door before Regulus could have even entertained the thought of maybe changing his mind. Pushy little bugger.

 

Regulus walked into the park that he had only sparsely seen as a child when Sirius had managed to steal them away from the ever strict hands of their parents. As a teenager he had seen it more often when it had meant refuge from the always ongoing arguments between his mother and his brother, and the stoic ignoring silence of his father. Evan complaining about dirt and fussy muggle children but too glad to be out of his own parental home to not join in, Barty as equally happy to escape his father. Adrienna refusing to sit on grass and bringing along flowery blankets that had them make jokes about her ongoing feud with Marculus and said Ravenclaw rolling his eyes behind his books while Adrienna threw dirt in Evan's face and ordered him to massage her feet.

 

One day, Marculus hadn't been with them anymore, disgusted by the marks on three of their forearms. And then Adrienna had stopped coming, too, because her father found it unseemly to hang around with young men where she was as good as engaged, even if they were her best friends and purebloods as well.

 

Now, Regulus was here quite voluntarily because he wanted the sun, wanted the sound of children laughing and playing, wanted the sound of life in his ears while he pondered a new beginning for himself. A new beginning that would start with a new beginning for Grimmaudplace number 12.

 

Regulus would not live in a tomb, in a museum of dark arts, he wanted a home, not just a house, so he sat down against a tree in soft grass and warm sun, opened up the notebook and began to make plans.

 

\--

 

He returned home when the sun was beginning to set, returned home to Kreacher fighting with a greyish owl while a black one sat patiently and quite smug up on the coat mantle. Regulus blinked at the display his elf made, muttering angrily under his breath while his mother's damnable portrait gave unhelpful commentary.

 

Regulus took off his shoes and held out an arm for the black owl, taking off the letter it had in its beak and patting its head a few times, "There should still be treats in the dining room," he told those smart looking dark eyes and the owl took off on near silent wings. The letter carried elegant handwriting and his full name and address, and Regulus abandoned the letter on the sideboard, knew whom the writer would be without looking inside.

 

"Good grief, Kreacher, what is going on?" He preferred to take pity on the feathery war and snatched the large grey owl with quick hands, keeping it from snapping at Kreacher again. The owl calmed and while still glaring at the equally murderous looking elf, it stretched out a leg and Regulus took the letter addressed to him way more informally.

 

Half an hour later, Kreacher still muttering over beastly animals while picking up owl feathers all over the ground floor, Regulus sat on the edge of the dining room table, tapping the fingers of one hand against the table top while the other hand held a letter he could only blink at.

 

Him, a teacher?

 

Sure, Regulus had loved Potions, had been brilliant at Potions and loved brewing more than ever because it didn't tax his magic so much these days.

 

But teaching?

 

He was not even three years out of Hogwarts, starting this summer would mean everyone in Fifth Year and over would have gone to school with him still and no. He wouldn't be able to teach kids for their OWLs and NEWTs when he might remember their tiny faces from Prefect duties.

 

But then again...

 

He wanted to help, he wanted to keep children, especially the Slytherin boys, from falling into the same pit as he had, he wanted to reach out offering hands to kids who thought they had no one. Voldemort was gone but the echoes remained.

 

"Kreacher?" Said elf popped into the room immediately, hands full of feathers and Regulus let them disappear with a flick of his wand, "Do you think I could be a teacher?" He asked and handed his friend Dumbledore's letter with the proposal. Kreacher read and his eyes shifted but then they glowed and he looked back up at Regulus with a smile.

 

\--

 

 _Two more years_ , he wrote Dumbledore back a few days later after much considerations and discussions with Kreacher, _give me two more years to figure my head out, to get my life back under control and built up something that isn't tainted by my family's dark reputation._

 

Two years to get his affairs in order and for the magical world to come to terms with life after Voldemort and former Death Eaters walking among them.

 

Dumbledore wrote back only one sentence.

 

_Tell me when you're ready._

 

\--

 

Kreacher found Marculus living in a Welsh village and Regulus turned up with one of his father's best Firewhiskeys because some conversations you just couldn't have sober. They argued and snapped at each other for an hour, then they mourned because even horrible homicidal friends were being missed a bit.

 

And then they got drunk and reminisced about the past, and Regulus wasn't sure if he could write it off to the alcohol when he broke down as he told Marculus about '79 and the cave, described what a bloody horcrux was and how he could still feel the inferi's touch on his skin sometimes.

 

Marc listened and when it was all out, he just hugged Regulus, it was awkward and weird and they had never gotten physical but Regulus had been so alone for so long now, it felt so good.

 

They didn't go back to being friends over night, but they both knew the next morning when they woke up in the living room with thundering heads that there was still something left that could be repaired.

 

\--

 

Adrienna met him in Diagon Alley for ice cream, bringing along her toddler daughter who had been born the day Regulus had fought for his life in a cave and a rounded belly. Little Julienna kicking her feet on her chair and observing him with eyes that didn't look like Greengrass or Burke and made Regulus throat tight for a moment.

 

But Adrienna seemed happy, loved her daughter so much, loved the child to come in two months just as much and teased him with making him godfather if the child was a boy and he stopped hiding himself away so much.

 

(It was a girl and they made Adrienna's sister godmother but then Adrienna's cousin got handsy with a girl barely off age and Adrienna overwent her husband's opinions and asked Regulus to be Julienna's godfather because he was a decent man. And maybe also because he would know how to protect the girl if Adrienna's husband ever found out she wasn't his daughter, but that suspicion he didn't tell Adrienna.)

 

\--

 

Narzissa asked him to come visit.

 

Regulus wrote her to send Lucius away and they could talk.

 

Narzissa asked if she could come visit.

 

Regulus wrote her to stop lying about Lucius and think about her son.

 

Narzissa remained stubborn.

 

\--

 

Andromeda turned up with her daughter without announcing herself on the day where Regulus was elbow deep in centuries of garbage thrown onto the attic. His mother's portrait screamed and Kreacher seethed and Andromeda's daughter ran over a vase.

 

"You got rid of the heads," Andromeda commented when Regulus stared at her from the bottom step, sleeves pulled up, dirt on his face, hair unruly, he hadn't expected visitors.

"Never liked them," he replied a little stunned, not knowing what to do when faced with her for the first time in ages, Andromeda hummed and then looked into the dining room that was loaded from floor to ceiling with plans and notes, color themes and offers from construction companies.

 

(And home decoration catalogues for the young witch that Adrienna had sent him in a ribbon adorned package because even two children didn't stop her from being a little shit.)

 

"I'm doing some renovating, planning it at least," Regulus explained when Andromeda thumbed very old wall plans of the house, "Also sorting through the other places. You don't want any of them by any chance?" That would mean having one less house or cottage to clean of dark magic and trinkets from centuries long gone. Andromeda snorted, facing him and looking at him like a mother did and Regulus felt like a little boy again, a stupid little boy who watched her being burned from the tapestry because she loved the wrong man.

 

"I suppose I could be interested in Arcturus' summer house by the sea," Andromeda told him with her lips finally pulling into a smile and Regulus gave her one right back. Andromeda's daughter, nine years old and wearing garish colors, eyed them both like they had gone crazy. "It's good to see you again, Reg."

 

"Yeah, you, too, Andy."

 

Easier than reconciling with Narzissa for sure.

 

\--

 

Barty Crouch asked him over for tea.

 

Regulus told him to get lost. In a very polite way.

 

\--

 

He emptied out houses that were his now as the family head of House Black. He visited distant relatives in care homes for elderly witches and wizards – the pureblood kind – and handed over artifacts and dark art trinkets to the Ministry in numbers that made him dizzy but them grateful. He cleaned out houses, apartments and cottages and then sold them to decent people who just wanted to built a future for their families.

 

Except for Arcturus' summer home in the South that Andromeda made her own vacation home for her family, and the summer cottage of old aunt Cass' and Grandfather Pollux' in Brighton that Regulus took for himself.

 

He didn't ask Narzissa if she wanted something, his once favourite cousin had made it clear she was a Malfoy now. And Malfoys didn't get Black family heirlooms.

 

Nymphadora popped in over the summer – always, _always_ unannounced – and battered him with questions about Potion brewing and Charms and Quidditch, and she wore him down with her bright grins and glowing curious eyes so fast that Regulus was a little embarassed by it. He took her to Quidditch games between renovating spurts and house sellings and Dora called him Uncle Regulus and he told her to call him Reg because the year she had been born had been his first in Hogwarts and he was not that bloody old, thank you very much.

 

Andromeda invited him over for dinners and Regulus found himself in pleasant discussions with Ted over Quidditch and the Ministry, and a lost piece of his family snapped back into place somewhere around June.

 

\--

 

By mid July, Adrienna and Marc had decided Regulus was not to be trusted with interior decorating on his own and had opinions over everything. Marc brought his curse-breaker brother and Adrienna brought her daughters, Grimmaudplace was an empty shell with only the attic holding furniture still, and only the ones Regulus wanted to keep.

 

Even Sirius' old room he had emptied because the brother he had once known was never coming back and it mattered nothing to keep his stuff.

 

(He didn't throw everything away, a few things went to Lupin later in the year.)

 

The walls empty of portraits, all of them silenced for now and awaiting their fate in another corner of the attic, except for his mother's portrait and that blasted sticking charm.

 

"I'd say blue," Marc broke the silence that had lasted while the three of them had watched Marc's little brother run diagnostic spells over the damned portrait.

"Of course, you always say blue," Adrienna grouched even if they hadn't talked for good since early 1978 and Regulus closed his eyes for a moment when the bickering began.

 

He also smiled.

 

Over in the corner by the protected fireplace, Kreacher dangled a hippogriff toy over Laureen in her basinet, smiling all loopy, and Julienna drew scribbled pictures.

 

"You certainly need to do something about those window- and doorframes," Marc commented once Adrienna had huffed and turned her focus back on those blasted color themes, Regulus waited for the punchline to follow, "Your name is already black enough, don't need to have your house follow, a bit too much on the nose if you ask me." Regulus rolled his eyes and laughed. "And not green again either, you already dress in it enough."

 

\--

 

Six months after that rather awkward conversation and the even more uncomfortable goodbye outside that muggle pub, Regulus against all expectations found himself sending off Kreacher to Dumbledore.

 

Asking for contact to one Remus Lupin.

 

He told himself it was because of the creatures nesting in Aunt Cass's cottage which neither him nor Kreacher had any knowledge on how to get rid of (and Marc had told him to call if the plants were bothering him and Adrienna had only added that children she could handle but not creatures) and Lupin had always had a thing for creatures. But if Regulus was honest with himself then it was because he was still lonely, even with two friends back in his life.

 

Even with Andy back to calling him 'little cousin', with Dora turning up every second Saturday for a Quidditch visit, even with a milk teeth grinning goddaughter who asked Regulus for tea parties and ribbons as gifts.

 

Regulus sometimes still choked on loneliness.

 

And Lupin knew how it felt, more than anyone that Regulus could imagine trusting.

 

They could help each other.

 

\--

 

It was a second life, and Regulus a changed man, ready for that new beginning.

 


	3. Pre-Act - Part I

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you ask yourself what a pre-act is, it's bullshit. I needed something where I could give an overview of Regulus' life before the summer of '93 and that thing suddenly got a whole life of its own then. Hence this weird little chapter before the actual plot gets going, in two parts, because it got so freaking long.

Summer of 1984 – Summer of 1991 – A Second Life – Part I

Regulus shifted half of his life over to Hogwarts in late August of 1984 after Dora had spent the entire summer lamenting that he better not back off on starting as a teacher at the same time as she would start as a student. She was just as bossy as her mother and he felt a bit panicked upon letting her clumsiness meet his future Potions classroom.

Andromeda found being a teacher his calling, especially now with the goal in mind to save children from pureblood mania and the allure of dark magic. She dragged Regulus along to Diagon Alley when Ted and her took Dora to get her wand and Hogwarts supplies. She insisted on him picking out new robes and Regulus made just as many annoyed faces as a bored Dora did.

He bought himself an owl, Dora got one, too, after Ted worried a cat and her habit of stepping on things might not mix well. Their stop at Ollivander's ended with Ted and Regulus flicking spells at shelves when Dora's reaction to her third wand nearly brought the left side of the place down.

At the end of the day, Regulus felt almost giddy with excitement over getting to return to Hogwarts, of getting to teach und help teenagers find themselves and a path for their future. Grimmaudplace didn't even faintly look like his childhood home anymore, fresh colors, fresh flooring and new furniture, changed room purposes. No more screaming portrait of his mother in the entrance corridor, rearranged portraits who didn't snap at each other all day long.

More than two years at passed since his pardon and he was beginning to feel good.

\--

Marculus had laughed when Regulus told him about his decision to accept Dumbledore's offer but just like Andromeda he commented on teaching being Regulus' calling.

"Just look at how often you explained to us what we were doing wrong. You were tutoring half of Slytherin in your Fifth Year in Potions. And Evan would have blown the school to kingdom come if you hadn't taught him that sleeping potion over night." Marc told him when they were perusing through a store for magical plants because not only did Regulus apparently have no sense for interior decorating but couldn't be trusted with his garden either.

"The Slytherins listened to me because they were terrified," Regulus recalled, reaching out towardss a purple flower but getting his hand slapped away in the last second before contact, he flinched at the toxic signs Marc pointed at next, "That is really not the impression I wanna give as a teacher."  
"They'll love you," Marc insisted, grabbed Regulus by the shoulders and steered him over to something less dangerous to interact with, "You'll be amazing, will know their stress way better than our old teachers ever could because you actually still remember your school years. Just don't hole yourself up there, I'll come up to Hogsmeade but you gotta remember that you have weekends where you can apparate out of Scotland."

"Is that your charming way of saying you'll miss me?" Regulus chuckled and ducked low to look at some tiny white flowers who sounded like they were giggling. Marc was silent for a long enough moment that he felt compelled to glance over to him though, "Marc?"  
"The last time our paths got separated you became a Death Eater," Marc began in a hissed whisper, dead serious all of a sudden, "went researching into really dark magic and then basically sacrificed yourself so that some potential figure could bring down You-Know-Who so excuse me if I am rather ardent over you keeping in touch. I talked to your floppy haired little friend, your magic was all but dormant for over a year after that bloody cave."

"It's not anymore though," Regulus insisted, not knowing if he was by now regretting his breakdown on Marc's couch and the following confession over the whole horcrux dilemma or if it actually helped to have someone to talk to who knew everything, "I'm fine, and I am really looking forward to Hogwarts but I'll also still come down regularly. Now, can I have these? They're really adorable." He changed the topic and brushed a finger over white flower petals, causing the flowers to giggle louder.

"You can but I'm planting them." Marc let the topic be changed but he bumped their shoulders together for a moment, "I've seen you in Herbology and...you shouldn't be allowed to dig anything up, let alone plant it." He fell into a rant over Herbology experiences and memories, most of them consisting of Regulus and Evan finding some way to muck up even the simplest of tasks. Evan had once made a plant cry that hadn't even been known to make that kind of whining sound.

They finished picking out flowers and whatever other green stuff Marc had talked over with Kreacher beforehand, and as they were set to apparate back to London, Marc held Regulus back, smile wide, eyes happy.

"You're gonna be an amazing teacher, Reg."

\--

Adrienna pecked his cheek when he told her about his decision, her hands pushing the stroller through Diagon Alley while Julienna giggled on Regulus' shoulders.

"I'll worry less about my daughters if you're in Hogwarts," Adri smiled happily over her words and Regulus' sheepish face, "And you'll be a great teacher, Reggie."

And then Julienna yelled for ice cream and Laureen woke up screaming from her nap and they had other things to focus on.

\--

He didn't write Narzissa, that front was still freezing.

\--

He wrote Slughorn on advice over quarter pickings and got his answer somewhere in the six hours he was nicely forced to stay for lunch, tea and supper.

\--

Lupin laughed when Regulus met him for a pint or two in the muggle pub just off the Ministry where no one looked twice at Lupin's shaggy clothes or Regulus' fancy suits and the sleeves they kept long even in summer.

"Why are you laughing?" Regulus demanded to know, just so refraining from throwing a chip at him, "There is absolutely nothing to laugh about." They weren't friends, he kept on telling himself that again and again, they just met up when Lupin was in London or when those times of the month left him needing somewhere to lay low where no one was gonna ask questions or show him pity.

Still, no friends, just not enemies anymore, Kreacher was still warming up to Lupin as well which was the topmost reason for them meeting in Muggle London.

"No," Lupin caught himself again and shook his head, "No, you're right, and I wasn't laughing about that. It fits you, being a teacher, you've got the calm and the heart for it. And no better place to save others than Hogwarts, there is always gonna be a kid who doesn't fit in." Regulus looked down onto his nearly empty plate, "I think you're gonna be real good at it. Slughorn was not a House Head who could stand against his students slipping into dark magic, even if he wanted to, but your eyes are open. You'll see them for what they are, not for what others see them turning into. If someone needs a way out, they'll come to you because you got out."

"I'm scared of failing," Regulus admitted after a pause, he hadn't even talked with Marc about those thoughts, mostly because he feared bringing up the topic of failing and not being able to help might trigger something in his friend he wasn't ready for. "Scared of not seeing something, of looking for signs in one group of students and losing another while at it."  
"Then you'll have still saved one group of students and kept them from becoming future servants for another dark wizard." Lupin pointed out calmly, they had already been sitting here longer than their usual catch-ups went.

Long enough that Regulus could feel the alcohol in his veins and had ordered a second plate of chips to keep from actually getting drunk.

"It's more than anyone has truly ever done for Slytherin, don't you think? We can't save everyone, Regulus."

"I know," Regulus sighed but then also looked up again with a smile, "Listen though, if you need a place to lay low for a bit, Grimmaudplace is still gonna be open to you. Kreacher won't murder you in your sleep." He joked and Lupin rolled his eyes, "And I finally got into contact with Belby, so we'll try that Potion next moon."

"Regulus..."

"I know, I know, I don't have to, you don't want any pity or charity." Regulus grumbled himself through it and Lupin rolled his eyes again, "I want to, okay? Let's just call it a lecture in broadening my horizon. It's quite a complex Potion."  
"It's also fairly expensive," Lupin reasoned and dared to steal a chip, Regulus glowered at him, he had hexed people for lesser offenses concerning food.

"Not for you to worry about," Regulus cut over any arguments that could have come, "I'll brew it anyway, Lupin, you would just help me find out if it works." It was the very Slytherin way to go about things and he could see it in Lupin's appearing smirk that the Gryffindor was not gonna let him get away with it, so Regulus changed the topic, "I went to see Slughorn yesterday."

"Whatever for?"

Lupin's thinly veiled horrified tone had Regulus laugh out loud, three of the Marauders had been in Slug Club, Sirius and Potter just because of their last names and Lupin because he had finished off a boggart in his first year that had been bothering Professor Sprout. Regulus's memories of the friends in Slug Club meetings consisted mostly of his brother and Potter boasting over whatever was on their mind and Lily Evans forcing Lupin to stick to her side while Slughorn showed her around like a trophy.

"Wanted to get some advice on the best lodgings closest to the dungeons." Regulus blew out a long breath at the end of his answer and Lupin waited for the true line of events to follow, "He kept me for six hours." Lupin's laughter was loud enough to draw the attention of every single other customer.

\--

September came and with it Regulus feeling so weird sitting down at the teacher's table when it still felt like only yesterday that he was sitting down at the Slytherin one.

"How weird?" Profes...Pomona, he corrected in his head, she told you to call her Pomona, asked him as they waited for the First Years to arrive, curious eyes were watching Regulus from all sides then and now. He was a new face, of course they did.  
"Very," Regulus told her with a smile and on her other side Flitwick leaned forward as Dumbledore took his place, smiling at the thick grins he got from some of the students, especially the Gryffindors ones.

"If you need any advice, you can always come to us. Can't be easy to go from student straight to Head of a House." Flitwick advised him and Regulus nodded to him, just as the doors got opened and McGonagall led in the group of small wide-eyed children. Dora stuck out with her hair nervously flickering between Andy's soft brown and Ted's sandy blond but there was a boy with ginger hair whispering to her ear, pointing over to the Gryffindor table.

"Oh my," Pomona said quietly as Dumbledore welcomed the new students and McGonagall explained the Sorting Hat, "The little one's hair is quite interesting."  
"She's a Metamorphagus," he explained equally quiet and Pomona and Flitwick looked around to him, eyes demanding to know more, "Nymphadora Tonks," he had barely spoken the name when Pomona's eyes lit up.

"Andromeda's and Edward's daughter? Oh my!" She crowned and they watched the first nervous First Year stumble to the Sorting Hat. Ted had mentioned that his old Head of House would remember him, that she had helped Andy and him with secret meetings to keep it away from being seen by the wrong eyes, "Oh, that is just wonderful, I'm so happy for them."

The Sorting ceremony continued and soon Dora's name was called and Regulus crossed his fingers under the table to wish her not to stumble over her feet just now, he knew how mean children could be. Dora managed just fine, sitting down on the chair with a bright grin, eyes still prickling with nervousness.

'Not Slytherin', Regulus felt himself repeating in his head as the seconds passed in silence, 'Please not Slytherin, make this kid's life easier by putting her anywhere but there.'

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

The table of the badgers applauded loudly and so did Pomona, a happy grin on her face and a quiet pleased "yes" falling from her lips. Dora skipped over to the Hufflepuffs and searched for his eyes only when she was sitting, Regulus smiled and winked at her, he was truly happy for her, following in Ted's legacy in Hogwarts would be so much easier for her than Andromeda's hated one. She would thrive in Hufflepuff, show them that not all Hufflepuffs were timid and quiet.

As the Sorting drew to a close with Charlie Weasley joining Gryffindor, Dumbledore stood up and drew the attention of the students before the feast could begin. The all familiar speech started and Regulus only just so snapped back to attention at the end of it, "And with much joy let us all welcome a new teacher for Potions and the new Head of Slytherin House, Professor Regulus Black."

Loud applause followed and Regulus smiled into the round, fully noticing a few older students at the Slytherin table exchange a few looks.

\--

It was easy to fall into it.

Teaching might have really been his calling.

And the Slytherins were somewhere between hero-worship and terrified of him as their new House Head, a good basis to work on.

He liked teaching and he liked the students, and hopefully he wasn't deceiving himself in thinking that the students liked him, too.

\--

Among the teachers it took a bit of proving himself.

Pomona and Flitwick were nice enough, sitting closest to him at the teacher's table, invited him for tea, and Slytherins usually had the least troubles with Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs anyway.

Most of the non-House Heads staff was pleasant enough, half of them too busy or with families of their own to be around much when not giving classes.

McGonagall was the hardest nut to crack, something that Regulus had fully expected and he knew only time could show her that he really wasn't the boy anymore he had been once upon a time.

\--

He developed a kind of sixth sense for Dora's clumsiness.

Mostly to protect his Potions classroom, himself and the students from being blown up by her.

Or accidentily poisoned.

\--

He loved the Quidditch euphoria that was always so much realer at Hogwarts than out in the professional leagues.

Regulus often found himself out in the stands when Slytherin was practicing, at first grading papers or reading up on the latest Potions research but once the kids remembered how well known Regulus Black had been as a Seeker and Captain in his Hogwarts time, they begged him for notes.

There was no rule that teachers couldn't help or get involved so Regulus happily observed and gave pointers and before he realized what was happening the final game was approaching and the team was spluttered around his office with charts and little bewitched figurines.

\--

They won the Quidditch Cup that year, not the House Cup.

It was a win for Regulus, too, because half the House was waving him goodbye as they climbed into the train.

Kreacher welcomed him back to Grimmaudplace for the break with two letters where Marc and Adri were fighting over custody over him for the summer.

Just to spite them a bit he went with Lupin to the Isle of Wight for a week to help with a boggart infestation.

\--

In '85, Evan's nephew Stevan got sorted into Slytherin and he looked so much like Evan, acted so much like Evan had at that age that Regulus knew right away that he had his work cut out for him with this one.

(Two years later, he'll catch Stevan Rosier and Thomas Fawley in abandoned corridors all the time and the alarms will just keep on ringing in his head. 'You can't save everyone', Lupin will repeat in his letters, but Regulus can't give up.)

\--

Dora thrived in Hufflepuff.

Julienna grew like a weed.

Regulus took them to the Quidditch World Cup in France for a week in 1986, spoiled them both absolutely rotten and returned them to their parents with glowing eyes and excited stories falling from their lips.

He himself apparated to Brighton for a week to recover.

\--

The Wolfsbane Potion worked.

Not in the sence that Lupin might have privately wished for but he now kept control over himself during the transformations.

Regulus counted that as a win.

\--

The first time he got a Howler from a parent in the fall of '87 for encouraging her daughter to think outside of marriage and children and charity balls, Regulus pinned it to his office wall.

Minerva congratulated him and finally lost even the last bit of doubt.

\--

So many Weasleys.

\--

In '89, Regulus learned what it meant to have favourites.

He would never turn into another Slughorn, that was very high on his list of things 'not to do as a teacher'.

But taking favourites was not harmful, not as long as you staid fair and he had every intention to do so.

(He would still cringe when the four girls got the bloody nickname Black's Fancy Four.)

Julienna had been sorted into Ravenclaw, making her mother and Regulus proud and her father only a little grumpy. She had grown into a quick minded little girl who could never go a day without touching a book, who was filled to the brink with burning curious questions.

Sarena was a Slytherin, Stevan Rosier's little sister and with it Evan's niece, a smart little girl but where her brother's eyes were filled with cunning darkness, Sarena's sharp green eyes were only filled with the same kindness her uncle had always carried for his friends as well, not a mean bone in her body.

Theresa was a Hufflepuff, Thomas Fawley's little sister, a quiet polite girl who was the complete polar opposite of her Slytherin sorted oldest brother. Quiet where he was loud, calm where he was rash. She shied away from dark magic, Thomas was too curious in it, she was kind too everyone, he got detention for shoving muggleborn students into windows.

(He was a half-blood himself and was still more elitist orientated than three quarters of Slytherin these days, Regulus was getting paranoid where it concerned him and Stevan Rosier.)

Samentha was a Macmillan, grandniece of Regulus' late grandmother, the first of her family sorted into Gryffindor since Grindewald's times. She was a feisty girl with big dreams and an even bigger heart.

If he could save anyone from the wisps of elitist mania and dark magic admirers, then so please let it be them.

\--

He met someone during christmas break of '90.

She was only a year younger than he was. Her baby son was two weeks old when the stroller's wheel broke in the park and Regulus was close enough to come to her rescue.

They clicked as they sat in a nearby cafe later, talking and warming up.

Olivia Shear was a Single-Mum.

Regulus felt butterflys.

\--

Weasley twins.

Oh Merlin.

Regulus vividly remembered the Prewett twins but this was worse, so much worse.

\--

Olivia wrote him letters to Grimmaudplace that Kreacher brought him to Hogwarts.

Regulus wrote letters back that Kreacher gave him eye-rolls for and then brought them to a magical post office in London that turned them into normal mail because no owls could go to Olivia's little apartment in Soho.

Olivia and her wonderful little baby son were Muggles, they didn't know anything about magic, but simply reading her letters made Regulus feel more alive.

They were friends so fast.

\--

Fudge as Minister.

A shot of Firewhiskey to that.

\--

He had one year left to get into the thick heads of Thomas Fawley and Stevan Rosier and then he didn't.

Four days before final exams he caught Stevan threatening his little sister over the company she kept.

Regulus failed.

And it hurt.

Adrienna wrote him to think about the students he had led away, and she was right, he had made a difference for many but Stevan had been Evan's nephew. And it felt like failing Evan all over again, felt like abandoning him to his fate and dark mind all over again.

\--

Grandfather Arcturus died in his care home in East London, Regulus promising him in his last moments that their family name would stand for good and light, no more darkness.

\--

Slytherin won Quidditch and House Cup that year and Regulus was so proud, joining the party down in the common room for a bit, being surrounded by thanks.

It felt good.

\--

In the summer of '91, Regulus had long since gotten comfortable with teaching, loved his students and the craziness that could come with it, was happy about realizing that more and more Slytherins thought beyond the money of their families to built a future for themselves.

Something took his attention though when Dumbledore sent him a note about being worried over Remus Lupin who hadn't been in any contact for three months now. Regulus had only returned to London a week ago, had spent a few days helping Dora move into her apartment in London, now where she had graduated and went for Auror training (Merlin save them all).

(He also made her swear up and down that she was never gonna tell her mother that it had been Regulus who had brought her upon that path.)

Afterwards he had went down to Brighton for a few days to relax.

The day that Kreacher pressed Dumbledore's note into his hands, Regulus had just returned from a morning spent with Olivia and Jack in the park, the boy was growing so fast and was so happy all the time. It was the first year where Regulus really sometimes flooed down to Grimmaudplace for the weekend to spent some time with Olivia and her little boy.

"What is it?" Marc asked him when Regulus frowned down at the paper, Kreacher being busy letting the owl out of the house again, "Did something happen?"  
"I don't know," Regulus told him and made a mental calculation when he had last seen Remus and what he had said about where he was going next. "Remus is missing." He only got aware of what he had said when he looked up and caught sight of Marc's raised eyebrow.

"You're pals with Remus Lupin now?" Marc intoned and Regulus made a face at him, "Reg, there is knowing someone and there is hanging out with people whenever they're in town. There is nothing wrong with being friends with Lupin. Was a bit bookish in school but well, we both weren't any different. And for all his involvment with the Marauders, he was the most sane one out of them...You wanna go and look for him?"

"Yeah..." Regulus let the word run out a bit, fingers playing around with his wand, Marc watched him, patient as always. If Remus had been out to observe the wolf packs again, there was no way that Marc wouldn't get suspicious but if there was real trouble and Remus needed help, then one more wand around would be beneficial, so "Would you come with me?"

\--

Remus' last known place of residence had been a small wizard village maybe two hours out from Liverpool at the coast and Regulus felt maybe a little bit bad over sneaking through fences and bushes until they reached the little cottage on the edge of the village.

"Charming place," Marc commented and Regulus sent him a look, Marc's house was bigger but way more overgrown with wildlife than this cottage. And Remus was getting by without anyone's money but his own, not really something Regulus and Marc could say of themselves, it called for respect not snide comments.

They met only the most basic of wards but then again they had peace times for almost ten years now, and the last full moon was only four nights ago, Remus might not have the strength for it. He took down the wards and then motioned for Marc to stay back as he approached the only door, "Remus?" He called out and then knocked three times, "Remus, it's Regulus, Dumbledore has been wondering about you." 

No answer.

A few unspoken spells showed that there was definitely a heartbeat inside, a bit too much on the slow side to keep Regulus from worrying. Marc and him slunk around the cottage but the only window showed an empty kitchen corner so he was still clueless, and that door either had to go or just bloody open.

Alohomora didn't work, it never did, and Regulus had long since wondered why they even taught that spell to kids. So Regulus got a little more creative and was glad to note that the door gave up on him just a fingertip away from blasting it in.

They found Remus collapsed halfway between kitchen and bed, down on his stomach, torn up back exposed and only badly treated with healing salves.

\--

"That was awfully close," Regulus mentioned later when it was just the two of them left in the cottage, Ted had come and healed Remus before going home, Marc had gone a few hours later after ensuring that some wards were put up again. "Why didn't you come to London? You could have had the potion and I would have had a furry guest for one night. We've proven that you keep control and Kreacher's terribly good at locking doors."

He handed the cup of tea to Remus who sat up in bed, blankets draped over him, and then sat down on the chair he had pulled up from a corner.

"I was busy," Remus croaked out and winced over his roughed up voice, Ted had listed down injuries and maladies until Regulus had been dizzy.  
"You're pushing yourself too far, way too far. We have peace, Remus, you don't need to spy on those packs every bloody month," Regulus argued and Remus sighed, and oh by Merlin, Marc was right, they were friends.

How the heck had that happened?

"You're coming back to London with me." Regulus pushed over that internal realization and waved Remus' protest away, "No, I am not letting you talk against it. You're weak as a feather, a Second Year would be able to push through those wards here and yes, I can name you four at least. And I know how much it sucks to feel weak. You're coming back to Grimmaudplace with me, I don't know how but you got Kreacher liking you, he'll have you better in no time and then you can go off again."

Remus still looked like not agreeing but then his eyes fell close and he took a very deep breath before nodding.

"What's got you in such a mood? Last time I saw you you were ribbing me about my private life, and you had plans for once." Regulus pointed out and watched how Remus took a good sip of the tea, he hadn't slept well for days, dark bags under his eyes, his injuries hadn't healed because he wasn't in any condition to have strength for it.

When Remus answered it was nearly so quiet that Regulus needed to strain his ears for it, "Harry is starting Hogwarts this fall." Spoken in such a tone that it had to be clear what it meant but Regulus felt completely clueless, could only repeat the name in a question. Remus winced and then sighed, "James' and Lily's son."

Regulus was stumped, staring at Lupin's pained blue eyes.

Harry Potter coming to Hogwarts.

The Boy Who Lived. He was turning eleven soon.

Ten years had passed so fast.

Regulus breathed out deeply and then dragged a hand over his face before he leaned forward and set a hand upon Remus' knee, "I promise you I'll keep an eye on him. With my group of girls, I got an eye in every house. He'll find a home in that school, Remus, just like you and I did. He'll find friends for life."

\--

It wasn't until a few days later that Regulus realized that Harry Potter at Hogwarts also meant Narzissa's son starting at Hogwarts.

And there was no way that Regulus would not find himself loaded with one Draco Malfoy come September.

That wall of ice would get cracks.

\--

The rest of the summer passed peacefully then.

Remus flittered out of Grimmaudplace again, at least until August's full moon. Dora turned up unannounced every second day, begging for a good dinner but way too proud to actually go back to her parents. (Kreacher still wasn't her biggest fan but even he took pity and taught her cooking.) 

Julienna didn't awkwardly avert her attention when he crossed paths with her and two of her friends in Diagon Alley, instead she even stopped him when he was all willing to be the teacher you smiled at but otherwise ignored, asked him if she could come around one of these days to ask some questions that her Mum had no answer for.

He treated the giggly bundle of girls, who were being chaperoned by Theresa's younger older brother Eustace, and the suffering looking teenage boy to some ice cream and asked after Sarena. "Not allowed to come," was the only quiet reply he got from Julienna but it was Eustace who held Regulus back a bit later while the three girls already rushed into Flourish & Botts.

"Thomas got into another confrontation with our parents and moved out but Stevan still lives at home. Sarena isn't allowed to go anywhere without him, and Stevan doesn't want her to associate with Samentha." He took it in and thanked the boy for the information before saying goodbye to him until September.

Marc dragged him all over the country for some flower or other, Regulus complained but also enjoyed it every second of it. They even finally apparated to Reading and visited Evan's grave together, talked about the good things that had been there in a sometimes too dark youth.

\--

Olivia and him started dating that summer, agreed to take it very slow.

She had thought to have found the love of her life, only to be left by him over night after she had found out she was pregnant with Jack. She was afraid to be abandoned again, wanted to built up complete and utter trust before letting anything get more serious.

Regulus wanted to take things slow because letting people close didn't come easy, and there was the whole issue with the magic-secret-keeping statutes. The very last thing he wanted was to lose a possible relationship over Ministry rules.

They had so much fun, though.

Jack was only a few months old now and it was so much joy to see him discover the world around him, to witness Olivia's pride and happiness.

The butterflys in his stomach were making somersaults.

And the very best thing about this new life?

Regulus had time, so much time to enjoy it.

\--

Hagrid let him know when he would take Harry Potter to Diagon Alley to buy his school supplies.

Regulus shadowed them.

Always out of sight but always around to make sure that nothing could happen.

The boy was smaller and skinnier than Regulus had expected but his face and that hair most of all, he looked very much like his father's son. He was also quick to note though that the boy had neither James' ego and natural charisma nor Lily Evan's easy confidence and quiet strength.

Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived, looking completely out of place in the world he had saved.

\--

Remus buried his face in his hands and sighed when Regulus told him what Hagrid had told him.

The boy knew nothing about his parents. Nothing about their world. Nothing about the sacrifices, the war, the hard won peace. He knew nothing about Hogwarts.

"It's an insult," he muttered angrily while Remus sighed into his tea, Regulus pacing up and down the kitchen, "I don't understand what Dumbledore was thinking, throwing the boy in with his muggle relatives. And don't gimme that face," Regulus was quick to intercept when Remus took a breath and looked up, meeting only a figure pointed his way, "It's not the Muggle part that is pissing me of, and you know that perfectly well. Everyone in our world knows Harry Potter and he knows nothing? He's gonna stumble into Hogwarts completely unprepared."

"James and Lily would be so ashamed."

\--

Something was wrong with Quirrel.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There certainly are stories to be told in these scenes as well but I had always wanted to really start off the actual story-telling in '93. So maybe if my mood strikes, I'll do kind of side oneshots for the moments in the years before that could funny or interesting.


	4. Pre-Act - Part II

**Summer of 1991 – Summer of 1993 – A Second Life – Part II**

 

"Miss Farley!"

 

Regulus took the stairs two at a time to catch up with one of the new Fifth Year Prefects for Slytherin.

 

"I'm glad I could still catch you before the Sorting ceremony," Regulus began as the small dark haired girl turned to face him, shushing her other friends off towards the Great Hall already.

"How can I help you, Professor?" Gemma Farley wanted to know, Regulus had proposed her to Dumbledore because she didn't shy away from standing up to even the most difficult of students.

 

"There is a certain kind of favor I want to ask of you," Regulus said with a smile and continued when Gemma nodded, "Observe the young Malfoy for me, a few days, what he does, what he says, who he talks to. Come to me at the end of the week."

 

"Yes, Professor."

 

\--

 

With as late as he was, Regulus had barely sat down when McGonagall already led this year's new students into the hall, and among them Harry Potter looked around with wide eyes, framed by a boy with achingly familiar ginger hair (Another Weasley?!) and a girl with bushy brown hair.

 

A few steps to the right of them, Draco Malfoy looked as smug as an eleven year old could, looking like a spitting image of his disgusting father, and of course the boy had a group of admirers already. Yes, Regulus had his work cut out for himself with this kid.

 

The Sorting began and Regulus got drowsy as always, only to snap violently to attention when McGonagall called out "Neville Longbottom" and a boy with a round face and terrified eyes stumbled up to the chair and the hat.

 

"You didn't know?" Pomona wanted to know in a whisper, her worried kind eyes watching him while his hands clutched at his chair and his heart pounded in his throat. Regulus shook his head, kept his eyes on the boy whose head basically vanished under the hat. He had been so focused on Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy where it concerned the new students that he had entirely forgotten that Neville Longbottom had only been born a day before Harry Potter and would thus be in the same year as him.

 

This kid who had grown up an orphan because of what Bellatrix and Barty had done.

 

"You okay, Regulus?"

 

"Yeah," he hurried to answer Pomona, she was always so quick to be worried about him, "Was just unexpected," he confessed and then clapped along heartily with everyone when Neville Longbottom was declared a Gryffindor.

 

Soon after Draco became a Slytherin and no one was surprised at all as he settled among his little gang, Regulus caught Sarena's eyes for a moment who was sitting directly next to that little chattering group among her Slytherin friends. Her truly unimpressed slightly annoyed look nearly made Regulus laugh so hard that he had to bite down on his lips.

 

Harry Potter, this skinny kid who knew nothing but should have known everything, became a Gryffindor under thunderous applause from the lions and even McGonagall looked pleased. As if the boy would have gone anywhere else. The Weasley twins greeted the boy enthusiastically along with the bushy haired girl whose name Regulus didn't recall right then.

 

"Remus will be happy to hear it," Regulus noted with a smile as only a hand full of students remained, among them the ginger boy.

"It's a tragedy how the boy was treated." Pomona sighed and then clapped when another student joined her house, "Hagrid brought up the idea of maybe asking around for some pictures of James and Lily. Do you reckon Remus might have some?"

 

"I'll ask."

 

\--

 

Before falling to bed that night, Regulus settled himself down to write a letter to Olivia while Kreacher eyed him with a barely bitten back smile.

 

_'Dear Liv,_

_The new schoolyear is only a few hours old and still I can already predict that it's gonna be an exhausting one...'_

 

"She's not my girlfriend," Regulus muttered without looking at him and Kreacher bowed to him but Regulus still heard his snicker.

 

"Whatever Master says."

 

\--

 

When the time came for the First Year Gryffindors and Slytherins to have their first Potion class, Regulus had already been made aware of Harry Potter's immense dislike of standing out for something he couldn't remember. It fitted Regulus just well, had planned on all along treating the boy as just another student.

 

What Regulus had also been made aware of was Draco's disgusting smugness of the higher status he thought he deserved for being Lucius' whelp, something that was never gonna happen under Regulus' eyes. Not in his class, not even for a Slytherin.

 

He waited patiently for the class to settle down and then asked him to take out their books, "First things first in my class," he began and disregarded Potter's corner all together for the moment, "I am not going to let you anywhere near a cauldron or a simple Potion ingredient until you know the theory. The art of potions brewing is not some fancy version of cooking, you are handling dangerous ingredients here at times and you will put forward the necessary caution. Now, please open your books on page two." Regulus swung himself behind his desk, "And Mister Longbottom, why don't you start us off with some reading of safety rules."

 

Frank Longbottom's eyes looked back at him from Alice Tremworth's face, terrified but Regulus smiled at the boy and nodded down towards the books in his hands. Neville began with a stutter and as unfortunately expected Draco began to snicker.

 

"Mister Malfoy!" Regulus snapped in a volume that had the whole class jump, "Do you want to start your Hogwarts time off with detention? Or would you prefer a letter to your mother? I'm sure she'd be happy to hear her son cannot behave himself." Draco flushed, positively embarassed and Regulus kept his glare on the boy for a moment longer before he turned back to overlook the class, "If someone is asked to read out loud in this classroom, the rest will listen and the only sound allowed is the scratch of a feather on paper as you take notes. Now, Mister Longbottom, if you would please continue."

 

Draco sulked throughout the whole class, Harry Potter and friends looked impressed and Regulus liked the curiosity that young Miss Granger portrayed, even though she could tune it down with the eagerness a little. After reading the safety rules he had surely lacked in his own Hogwarts time (Slughorn was good with Potions but with Evan as a partner you quickly would have loved some guidelines on how to prevent explosions.) Regulus had them set up workspaces on their tables, letting them team up in pairs or groups of three.

 

He gave five points for neat built ups but didn't take points for lazy ones (Draco could definitely invest in better friends, maybe ones with brains), and most of the students were beaming when they left class later, even with homework.

 

If Draco glowered, Regulus only knew that he had done right, the kid needed some touch of reality.

 

\--

 

As the weeks progressed and he slowly became aware of the strengths and weaknesses of this new year of students, Regulus found himself despairing more and more over the spoiled rottenness that Draco was showing.

 

He kept on _waiting_ for the "I'll tell my father" because he knew right away that Draco was not going to get the response he was maybe hoping for. Lucius wouldn't dare and be stupid enough to go up against Regulus.

 

Harry looked like taking a breath of relief whenever he stepped into Regulus' classroom and that felt wonderful, to know that the boy who had saved their world felt comfortable in his class because he could disappear if he wanted to. After some starting hesitation, Neville was downright blooming in Potions, his clumsiness not getting in the way when he wasn't nervous, and he was nowhere near as accident prone as Dora had been (was, _still_ was).

 

\--

 

Regulus was outside by chance when the First Years had their flying lesson and he witnessed the whole stolen Remembrall incident a good time later as well.

 

The first time he had been on his way back from the glasshouses when Neville Longbottom basically crashed to the ground right at his feet and leaving Madam Hooch to rule the other kids back in, Regulus took it upon himself to bring Neville to Madam Pomfrey to get his wrist fixed.

 

"Your parents couldn't fly either," he told the boy while Pomfrey was collecting her needed supplies, Neville looked up at him with wide eyes, "Good wizards, the both of them, but not flyers."

"You knew my parents?" The boy mumbled in surprise and Regulus could feel the guilt flare up in himself again, stupid guilt, he hadn't been there that night.

"I did, they were way better Prefect role models than my own housemates. They were good people, talented people, but not with a broom, so don't be too hard on yourself."

 

The second time he had been going over Quidditch pitch shedules with McGonagall because someone had double booked it for November and they were both quite flabbergasted when they spotted Potter on his broom, claiming back the Remembrall that Draco had set free from Neville's hand.

 

Regulus took ten points from Slytherin and warned Draco that he was going to write his parents if this continued while McGonagall pulled Potter into the Quidditch team.

 

\--

 

On Halloween, Regulus actually took the day off to apparate to Glasgow where Remus had his new flat, they got terribly drunk on this ten year anniversary of Voldemort's fall, reminisced over memories of people they missed.

 

In Hogwarts a troll got set loose and Julienna declared him upon his rather frantic return the next morning that he was never ever allowed to leave the school again on Halloween.

 

(Regulus was not at all surprised to hear that Harry Potter and his two friends were involved in the trouble, there was a habit developing, it was that stupid duel all over again.)

 

\--

 

Harry Potter was a damn good Seeker, flew better than his father ever had and James Potter had already been rumored to have been born on a broom.

 

\--

 

When asked Samentha told him that Potter had found himself a group of friends and was settling in well but that Neville seemed a bit lonely. Regulus asked Pomona if she needed another hand in the glasshouses because the kid was great at Herbology.

 

(Great-Something-Aunt Callidora wrote him and thanked him for encouraging Neville.)

 

\--

 

When asked Sarena eyed him for a very long moment before she summarized her opinion over Draco Malfoy with "he is one spoiled pureblood elitist brat," she had said and then crossed her arms over her chest, "He's like my brother was at eleven and that's not a compliment. I'm sorry, Professor, I know he's family."

 

"Draco is no Black, he's a Malfoy," Regulus made clear in his driest voice, handing some tea to Sarena and Julienna who had originally come over to complain about Quirrell. "No Black would ever act this rotten."

 

\--

 

Something with Quirrell suddenly set Regulus' teeth on edge.

 

\--

 

He spent three nights in a row looking over his part of the puzzle protecting the stone because his paranoia wouldn't let him sleep. Fluffy got him a bit one time and he limped for a few days but it was worth the more resting sleep.

 

\--

 

Christmas came closer and with it the joy of soon being able to see Olivia and Jack again, upon Potter's decision to stay in Hogwarts over break, Regulus asked Remus if there was maybe something of the boy's parents that he could make without. Remus sent him a scarf that Lily had once forgotten at his place shortly before the Potters had gone into hiding, Regulus wrapped it with a note stating no name and instructed the house elves to make sure Harry got it on christmas morning.

 

The girls chose to stay at Hogwarts that year as well, Sarena and Theresa were reluctant to leave for home, Samentha preferring Hogwarts over staying with her old aunt while her parents were out of the country and Julienna deciding that she was not gonna be the only one going home then.

 

Regulus flooed home as he always did on the morning of Christmas Eve, swooshed into Grimmaudplace where Kreacher was just finishing up on christmas decorations and Dora was splayed over the biggest couch in the living room with a book on curse-breaking spells.

  
"Is that something I should be concerned about?" Regulus asked her, flicking a lock of bright purple hair as he passed by her to greet Kreacher.

"Just something that Bill lent me. Is it okay if I crash here until tonight? My flatmate got his parents over and they are exhausting." Dora wanted to know and Regulus waved the concerns away as he sent the few things he had brought along up to his bedroom and then made a hunt for the mail.

 

"They're on the kitchen table!"

 

"Stop being so noisy!"

 

\--

 

Everything that happened after Christmas and didn't include Quidditch went a little over Regulus' head, he only on a second base got aware of Draco getting into trouble right along with Potter, Weasley and Granger and that it included some kind of supposed dragon.

 

He let McGonagall and Hagrid handle it, was too busy dealing with nightmares and terrible headaches incurring every single time he tried to pull up a conversation with Quirrell to find out what was wrong with him.

 

His Slytherin graduates wanted advice and help in finding a suitable career for themselves which took up a lot of Regulus' time because it was important to him.

 

And then Julienna showed him bruises on Sarena's wrist after a Hogsmeade trip and Regulus was more than ever occupied with finding a way to get Stevan Rosier and Thomas Fawley from diving down the grave they were digging themselves.

 

And suddenly alarms were triggered because someone had solved his puzzle and didn't carry Dumbledore's signature and everything just went so bad so fast.

 

\--

 

So so bad.

 

\--

 

Regulus had bad days, of course there were bad days, no one got out of what he had and walked away with nothing but a burn scar. He had nightmares, he had flashbacks and sometimes he pushed himself too hard and paid with it with his magic going a little haywire again.

 

Some days his hands wouldn't stop shaking and Madame Pomfrey had no solution, said that only time could be a remedy. On those days, Regulus kept his sleeves long and gave only verbal instructions in his classes. The students adapted, helped each other when he couldn't, and he never even heard rumors over his state, and on free afternoons or the weekends, Regulus would ask Marc to come to Hogsmeade and they would talk.

 

Sometimes Regulus was back in that cave and the potion burned in his chest. Sometimes Regulus was back in that cave and the fire was everywhere. Sometimes Regulus was back in that cave and they pulled him deeper and deeper into the water.

 

Sometimes Regulus was sixteen years old again, blinking back tears because the wand on his arm was burning the flesh. Sometimes Regulus was sixteen years old again and feeling so helpless when Marculus sneered at the three of them and walked away without another look. (That night Barty had raged over the insult and Evan had been so alarmingly quiet, Regulus had felt terrible over losing a friend.)

 

Nothing though seemed to hit him harder than when the full truth about Harry's encounter with a possessed Quirrel came to his ears.

 

Dumbledore handed him a well filled glass of Firewhiskey that Regulus emptied before his shaking hands sloshed it over.

 

"Have you ever considered that there are more?" Dumbledore asked him quite directly and Regulus felt himself break out into a sweat, "That he made more than just the locket?"

 

Regulus threw up.

 

All night long.

 

\--

 

Barely fifteen minutes back at Grimmaudplace, Regulus magically copied all of his horcrux notes and had Kreacher bring them to Dumbledore.

 

If there were more, it was of utmost importance that they found them. And even more important it was to find a way to destroy them.

 

He wouldn't return.

 

He would never come back.

 

Never.

 

Not as long as Regulus was still standing.

 

That step done, Regulus flooed up Remus, wanted to explain the events of Harry Potter's dramatic first year in person and not via letter, and he trusted Remus, wanted his input. As much as Dumbledore was pushing for secrecy over the whole agenda, Regulus wasn't convinced of it, he had wanted to do it all alone once and it had nearly gotten him killed.

 

And Harry Potter was just a kid.

 

He wasn't going to stand by while an innocent kid got swept into a fight that wasn't his, not when others, when adults could do it instead.

 

\--

 

Remus looked sick when Regulus told him about horcruxes and terrible dark magic.

 

"And Dumbledore thinks there could be more?"

 

Regulus nodded. Marc pushed over some Firewhiskey.

 

\--

 

The summer passed boringly enough though, exactly what Regulus needed and he spent most of his time between Olivia's place and his own home, taking Jack and her down to the Brighton cottage for a few days even, after Kreacher had swept the place free of magical evidence.

 

Narzissa wrote him about a visit and Regulus finally relented, asking her to come see him at Grimmaudplace, he wanted to talk to her about her son because Draco was a terrible spoiled brat and Regulus was sick of his behavior.

 

(A few weeks later, Lucius would try to buy his son's way into the Quidditch team but Marcus Flint said no because Regulus had taught him that strategy and team spirit could win you more matches than nice looking brooms and outfits. Draco would not become Seeker because another kid was better than him during try outs. Narzissa complained, Regulus reminded her that a sense of reality was even good to have as a Malfoy. There had simply been another with better skills than Draco.)

 

(He would have hexed Lucius straight to Azkaban if he had known about the diary back then.)

 

Dumbledore assigned Gilderoy Lockardt to the DADA position and Regulus stared at the letter, wishing and wishing he had misread.

 

What?

 

Remus nearly begged him to have an eye on all of the students that ear when Regulus told him and Marculus' only comment was "Good riddance to defense skills. Who'll ever need that?" Adrienna cornered him in the Diagon Alley owlery two weeks before school was to start up again and begged (demanded!) of him to ensure that her daughter and her friends would not fall behind shedule a year before their OWLs.

 

(During the christmas holidays, Regulus would find Julienna and gang on his doorstep, annoyed and frustrated over not learning anything under Lockardt and Regulus would ask Dora to come over for two days. Dora turned up with Bill Weasley and between the two of them they got the Defense catch up handled easily.)

 

Remus and Marc read themselves through Regulus' accumulated dark magic notes and Marc even visited his loony old grandmother to browse through the ancient Selwyn home library.

 

\--

 

Olivia and him grew closer, piece by piece, day by day.

 

Regulus didn't care about the number of months that passed until they slept with each other for the first time, he was happy and there were no numbered days, he had time.

 

He got to witness Jack's first steps, got to hold Olivia with an arm around her waist while she cried tears of joy and Jack began to toddle around the living room, laughing so loud.

 

She laughed about his stories about students and life at a boarding school, he laughed over her stories over fussy costumers and pretentious old business men.

 

It was so good.

 

\--

 

When it came to back-to-school shopping, Regulus got himself convinced to join Adrienna and the gaggle of girls who had joined up at the Greengrass' for the last two weeks of summer break this time. Theresa and Samentha were trying to talk a reluctant Julienna and a downright horrified Sarena into joining them for the cue outside of Flourish & Botts to get books signed by Gilderoy Lockardt.

 

"I know he's a fake," Theresa argued against the united Slytherin-Ravenclaw front who looked mighty unimpressed while recently turned ten year old Laureen Greengrass excitedly looked around between them. "But it's still an autograph from a famous person. Sammy and I, we'll wait in line and you can browse for books. Is that really such a hard compromise?" Julienna sighed in response while Sarena whined but then nodded her agreement.

 

"Are you coming with us?" Julienna turned to Regulus then who had so far been happy to not get involved while he suffered over Adrienna fussing at his hair. (He had had it cut weeks ago because this summer was awfully hot and Adrienna found it too short.)

"You want me to voluntarily step anywhere near Lockardt before I absolutely have to? You girls know I like you but there is a limit of things I would do." Regulus cut back politely and the girls thankfully laughed, Julienna took ahold of her sister's hand and then they were off after Adrienna had reminded them once more to be careful and that Regulus and her would pick them up again.

 

"Lockardt is gonna be a nightmare. He'll never live up to all those stories about him," Adrienna muttered when the girls were out of earshort and Regulus snorted, "Now, do I finally get to hear why we're venturing into Knockturn Alley or does that remain too dangerous for me to know?" Regulus sighed deep and long and still grabbed Adrienna's hand to pull her into the darkened alleyway.

 

"I trust you, Adri, but you have something very precious to lose whereas I do not. What Marc and I are researching into is capable of being quite dangerous so I want to keep you out of it because I care about you, and I care about your girls." Regulus explained his reasoning and Adrienna squeezed his arm before she hooked herself under, "It means a lot though that you are willing to talk to your father. These days it throws a bit of shade if I'm seen browsing through the dark magic shelves."

 

"It'll be fine, he still likes you," Adrienna said and then pushed open the door to Borkin & Burkes, "Father?"

 

\--

 

Harry Potter stumbling over his feet in Borkin & Burkes while he was browsing through the dark magic book selection to find more indirect information about horcruxes, it was not something that Regulus had expected.

 

As it stood he stared at the boy for a good long moment and then nearly facepalmed over his explanation, Merlin be damned, maybe Dora was more clumsy but this kid had a true exceptional talent to land himself in dangerous situations.

  
Adrienna made a double-take when Regulus turned up with not only two books but also a bedraggled looking but cleaned up Harry Potter. Regulus bought the books, reminded Adrienna's father to keep this is all silent and then led Harry back out of Knockturn Alley with a hand on the boy's head, fingers covering the scar.

 

Fortunately they met Hagrid right at the entrance back into Diagon Alley and Hagrid promised to keep an eye on Harry until they found the Weasleys.

 

"It's like he's carrying a bright sign over his head," Adrienna whispered as they watched the twelve year old leave at Hagrid's side, "Please drop trouble here. Those eyes though, he's smart boy. Reminds me of you a bit." That brought him up short and Regulus turned back around to stare at Adrienna where he had already made a step forward to fetch the girls from Flourish & Botts.

 

"How?"

 

"Well, didn't have the nicest of childhoods, had none or less than a handful of friends growing up. Started at Hogwarts with everyone already having formed opinions over him. Smart boy but lacking the confidence he could have because he's only ever been pushed down until now. Finds true friends at Hogwarts and finally he is being allowed to be who he is, to find a corner in the world for himself."

 

\--

 

Outside Flourish & Botts, they came face to face with a sneering Lucius Malfoy and a smug looking Draco. Lucius tried to make conversation as always but Regulus brushed him off – as always. Draco looked uncomfortable, especially when Lucius invited Adrienna over for tea in Narcissa's name and Adrienna not even so politely declined.

 

The boy wasn't used to people not falling to his father's feet, especially not purebloods.

 

The girls came walking out of the shop then, laughing and teasing Samentha over the Weasley twins and something that must have happened inside, none of them paid the Malfoys any attention.

 

\--

 

No year ever started the same, Regulus got to think as he plugged Harry Potter and Ron Weasley inside a good fifteen minutes after the Sorting Ceremony had started. Mild annoyance shifted into true worry and confusion though when Harry told him the barrier at King's Cross had been locked, prompting them to miss the train.

 

Regulus shushed them off to the feast and quietly informed Dumbledore on what had happened on his way to his own seat, Pomona, Filius and him spent the remainder of the feast discussing how something like that could have happened.

 

\--

 

"Please."

 

"Julienna..."

 

"Please!"

 

"Julie..."

 

"Pleeeeease."

 

"We're seriously not learning anything about curses."

 

"Not you, too, Sarena," Regulus almost whined and leaned forward until he could prop his elbows on his desk and bury his face in his hands. He didn't dare look up, contrary to the Prefects who had been sent by their respective fellow yearmates, these two Fourth Years knew that aside from rational reasoning a little begging would go a long way with Regulus, too.

 

Especially when they were all speaking the truth.

 

Gilderoy Lockardt was a complete and utter disaster.

 

Regulus couldn't believe he had spent a break between classes on the first day of classes checking in on the infirmary because Neville had ended up there after a confrontation with Cornish Pixies. Who set vicious little creatures like that loose on a room of twelve year olds with no knowledge whatsoever.

 

A true and utter idiot.

 

"And what would this help look like," he sent a question back at the girls after a good minute of silence, "theoretically speaking," he added as an afterthought and only then did he look up, caught green and golden eyes.

"Dueling club?" Julienna proposed with a sheepish smile, "We know the upperclassmen have them and that's great that they can help each other but I really don't want to fall behind because my teacher is incapable of teaching the simplest curses." She pointed out with a huff and Regulus knew he would agree before he even weighed down the options again.

 

"I'll think about it."

 

(Three days later, he encountered Neville Longbottom in the smallest glasshouse, quietly ranting to Pomona about Lockhardt spending the entire last lesson on only talking about an interview he gave to Witch Weekly. Regulus took about five minutes of inner meditating until he turned on the spot and went to find Lockhardt, Dueling Club for the underclassmen it would be.)

 

\--

 

Students were found petrified.

 

A new year of trouble was beginning.

 

Horror really.

 

Regulus woke up screaming the night after the staff meeting, scrambling off his bed and crashing hard to the stone floor to escape the grasps on his limbs and the ghost feel of water in his lungs.

 

The Chamber.

 

The Chamber had been opened.

 

He was dead, Regulus told himself again and again that night while he walked the corridors, he was dead, he was not coming back. The locket was safe, he wouldn't be able to reach it, the locket was safe and no one truly knew if there were more. It was just a theory.

 

Regulus walked and walked.

 

Until he stopped feeling the cold touch of the inferi burning up his legs.

 

In the morning, he stepped into the Common Room and reminded his students to be careful and to not step out of the Common Room alone if possible, and to report anything suspicious.

 

(He regretted that last statement on the weekend when all the Slytherins seemed to want to report were signs on why Harry Potter had to be the heir of Slytherin. Regulus wanted so hard to role his eyes, as if the Potters ever descended from Salazar Slytherin.)

 

\--

 

The dueling club was supposed to be a little uplifting experience and a chance for Regulus to see just how incompetent Lockardt really was. They left the upperclassmen to their own devices and scrammed the years 1-4 into a transfigured Great Hall.

 

In Regulus' Hogwarts time there had been dueling clubs as well but with the war throwing so many waves even in Hogwarts, it had later become something centered down on the Houses. No one wanted even more confrontations between Gryffindor and Slytherin, there was already enough dueling in abandoned corridors.

 

Gryffindor's dueling clubs had sometimes joined up with the ones from Hufflepuff and even Ravenclaw, while Slytherin had been mostly among themselves, only a few Ravenclaws had preferred their presence over the others.

 

Regulus didn't like fighting like Barty and Evan had, didn't get a thrill out of it when the adrenaline pumped through his body and the curses were thrown around him but he was more than just decent at it. You didn't become a Death Eater back in the day because you were good in reading books and had a name that opened doors, Regulus could fight and he certainly knew the rules of proper dueling etiquette better than his brother ever had.

 

Lockardt was of course boasting of his skills again and as Regulus took off his cloak to give an example fight with him for the students, Julienna pleaded with him to 'please don't let him win'. Regulus had no intention to do so and despite speaking his curses out for once, Lockardt kissed the ground rather immediately, many girls sighed in despair, bubbles popping in many heads.

 

Especially once Regulus did it again and again with the barest of effort.

 

Lockardt showed his true cowardice when he backed off and asked Harry Potter to take a place on the stage, Regulus rolled his eyes over Lockardt's behavior and gave a nervous looking Harry a reassuring smile. Some Slytherins asked to be given a chance against Harry, Draco especially looked eager but Regulus chose Dana, Slytherin's new Seeker and a small Third Year who took her place happily enough.

 

The two of them began the duel properly enough and though Dana knew more, Harry was certainly the better dueler, finally something he had clearly learned in good skills from his parents, though Regulus was more than reluctant to admit that something good could ever come from James Potter. Then Dana mispoke and conjured up a snake that Harry controlled with Parseltongue and Regulus couldn't move at all in his shock and the panic rolling up his chest so when he did get his bearings and swung his wand the snake had been awfully close to a Hufflepuff student.

 

With Harry looking like he had actively led the snake there.

 

Regulus vanished the snake, dismissed the club until the next week and then rushed off to find Dumbledore without even giving a glance to Lockardt.

 

The Potters had been rumored to be descended from a great many wizards but Parseltongues had never been among them.

 

Something was really wrong.

 

\--

 

More students got petrified.

 

Regulus stopped sleeping alltogether, his hands couldn't even button up his shirts anymore.

 

He had Kreacher write Marc to ask him to come up to Hosgmeade.

 

Marc came up and they walked the village and the paths around it for hours until Regulus could breathe again, could think again and was so exhausted that he slept at least a little that night without terrible nightmares filling every bone in his body, and embarassingly enough with Marc passed out on an armchair in the corner.

 

Pomfrey gave him some dreamless sleep but frankly reminded him not to overdo it.

 

\--

 

As christmas break came closer and more Slytherins than before chose to remain at Hogwarts or were told to remain, Regulus found himself torn between staying behind as well to be available and wanting to escape because the castle walls and the paranoia was threatening to drown him and take him down like an actual cursed cave filled with inferi hadn't quite managed.

 

It was maddening.

 

Pomona cornered him one late Thursday afternoon as Regulus broke away from another dueling club, it was a halfway good day, his hands weren't shaking if they were kept busy and it had felt good to instruct the students on proper dueling etiquette while they practiced their spells.

 

"You'll leave for London, and don't you dare protest, Regulus, I won't have it. You are skin and bones, you're not sleeping. You need a break, need some room to breathe, so go home for the holidays." Pomona told him gently once she had Regulus sitting in one of those terribly comfortable chairs in her quarters. "Go home, soak up the calm in London, spent some time with your girl."

 

How she knew Regulus had no idea, but she just knew somehow.

 

"I can't leave you all alone with this..."

 

"Regulus, the rumors are getting more ridiculous by the second. One part of the student body thinks Harry Potter to be the heir of Slytherin. Half of Gryffindors seems convinced the young Malfoy to be it. Some think you are this heir." Pomona shook her head, "What we all need is someone who returns from these holidays with a cleared head so that we may finally find a solution for whatever is going on here. You have good Prefects and Filius and I, we'll look after your Slytherins, too. Take this time out, Regulus."

 

Regulus thanked Pomona greatly before he left at the end of the week, promised her to bring back some good chocolate from London, and the moment he stepped back into Grimmaudplace and took a deep breath, smelled the cookies and heard Dora and Kreacher bickering down in the kitchen, he felt already a little better.

 

He basically slept throught he two days until Christmas Eve and then apparated with Dora over to her parents for a family dinner, crashed the night at Tonks' and then went back to London sometime after lunch. Not home though, instead he rang the bell on Olivia's apartment door and caught a hyped up Jack when the toddler went to make a run for freedom.

 

Olivia took one look at him and Regulus found himself placed on the couch with blankets, hot tea and brightly grinning cuddly toddler who showed off his presents. Olivia got started on dinner and joined them once the casserole was in the oven, Regulus found himself relaxing when she kissed him and stroked a hand through his hair.

 

"Hard time at school?"

 

"Quite rough. Some things with students, it brought up some quite unpleasant memories of my past," Regulus admitted, hoping that Olivia would get the hint towards the 'gang troubles' he had been caught in in his schooltime, it was the best way Regulus had been able to explain it to her, "I haven't been sleeping so well."

"Yeah, I can see that." Olivia told him softly and kissed him again, "Stay here for a few days if you can. Jack and I, we might be good for you. We've been known to distract you." He smiled up at her and nodded, getting this distraction and this happiness, it sounded like a wonderful idea.

 

\--

 

Regulus had been unhappy with the Ministry and their supposed peace rule since he had learned that Lucius Malfoy had been able to buy his way into freedom. Fudge was a fool, a scared coward who had made it into his position with money and empty promises and because he surrounded himself with powerful people.

 

It had nagged at Regulus, to see that nothing had changed, that everything was still more of the same even after the war against Voldemort and ranks of Death Eaters. And nothing showed that better than Dolores Umbridge getting through with her anti-werewolf-legislation that made it nearly impossible for good people like Remus to get work in the magical world.

 

Remus took it silent, because he took everything silent nowadays but Regulus let himself rage, let this stupidity be the drop that spilled him over. Marc, as equally furious – not just because he had become friends with Remus but also because he had been friends with a vampire since childhood – confronted his father over it, old man Selwyn was a politician in the Ministry, sat in the Wizengamot and was one of Fudge's greatest opposers.

 

Regulus had contacts in good places, too, but he knew that change could come from somewhere else as well and unable to sleep again in the last days of christmas break, he penned an article about the dangers of pureblood mania that got way longer than he would have ever thought. He handed it in to the Prophet without telling anyone and it was an explosion.

 

He returned to Hogwarts while the magical society was still stunned by his honesty and his anger.

 

And nothing certainly felt greater than when Marc and his father made an official statement a few days later, revealing that Dolores Umbridge did not descend in any way from their family and had absolutely no connections to any old families. The anti-werewolf-legislation remained, for now, but Umbridge was discredited, humiliated and laughed at.

 

The Prophet approached Regulus over writing more articles, Regulus happily agreed, and he slept so good in those days after.

 

The Blacks had always been figures of society, figures of influence in the Ministry and it was about damn time that Regulus took that place for himself as well. It came with pissing off a lot of people but it also came with impressing a whole other lot of people, and Regulus hadn't truly cared about what other people thought of him since the day he apparated into a cave entrance at the Atlantic coast.

 

\--

 

Regulus truly slipped into the skin of the Black Patriarch for the very first time when more students got pretrified, among them Theresa Fawley, and Lucius turned up with Fudge at Hogwarts to hand out punishments to people who didn't deserve them.

 

Regulus promised Hagrid to have him freed in no time, that everything would be cleared up, with Dumbledore he couldn't speak before Fudge had him removed but Regulus could stop the Ministry from taking over at Hogwarts. Instead Minerva and him took control into their hands, as well as giving some responsibilities into the hands of the few people they trusted in the Governor's Board.

 

\--

 

Ginny Weasley was taken into the Chamber of Secrets.

 

In the staff meeting where they desperately tried to figure out what to do, Regulus couldn't keep his hands from shaking, not even when he pressed them against his face.

 

His ears were rushing with the sounds of his arms and legs fighting against dozens of hands pulling at him under the water. His skin was burning. Every nerve was set on edge

 

\--

 

Ginny Weasley was possessed by Tom Riddle's sixteen year old spirit because the diary was a horcrux.

 

Harry Potter destroyed the diary with a Basilisk fang and though it was all terrible and horrible what had happened in the Chamber, Regulus couldn't help but feel some kind of elation inside of himself.

 

There were more horcruxes, they had the proof now.

 

But they also had a way to destroy them.

 

\--

 

When Regulus waited for Harry outside the staircase that led up to the headmaster's office, wanting to talk to the boy to ensure himself he was alright, he hadn't expected to get to witness what he would soon. He had just come back from the infirmary where Pomona and Pomfrey were making good progress with the petrified students, all of them would be alright. Theresa was still surrounded by the other three girls, Cedric Diggory worrying himself a few nails shorter and the Weasley twins switching between watching over them and staying at their sister's bed.

 

Dobby greeted him politely and sheepishly told Regulus of the things he had done. And then Lucius and Harry stepped out and there were threats, a freed elf and a very proud looking Harry Potter.

 

Before things could escalate then, Regulus drew his wand on Lucius and Dobby snapped Harry behind him, "Dobby, would you mind bringing Mister Potter back to his friends?"

"No, Mister Black, Dobby does not mind," Dobby told him and his tone promised dark looks sent to his former master, a crack later Dobby and Harry were gone and Regulus was alone in glowering at Lucius.

 

"Don't tempt me," he growled quietly, "Don't give me any more reasons than I already have, Lucius. I see we're back to threatening children as our favourite free time. Didn't you get enough of that the first time around?" His snarled question was met with flashing pale eyes and Regulus didn't lower his wand even an inch. He had spent too much time fearing this man as a child and a teenager, now there was only anger and disgust left.

 

"Be careful, Regulus, not everyone is happy with what you're doing." Lucius drawled and Regulus snorted, of course, the idiot still believed Regulus to be a naive fool, something that Regulus hadn't been for even a moment since he was seventeen.

"Enough people are very happy with what I am doing," he held against it, calm and perfectly composed, the knowledge that everyone was okay and that they had found a way to destroy horcruxes had settled his nerves entirely again. "It is _you_ who should be careful, Lucius. You forget yourself too easily, I still know what is under that sleezy face of yours, you don't fool me."

 

"You think you can scare me?"

 

"I think that I can ruin you so don't give me any more reason to." Regulus pointed out and then began to walk away, only to stop a few steps away, talking without looking back, "And don't think that any feelings towards Narcissa might stop me in my path. She makes her own choices and I would always welcome her into my home if she only turned her back on you. There will be a day where you will pay for everything you have done, Lucius."

 

And then he left.

 

\--

 

The Board of Governor's of Hogwarts needed only a few complaints before Lucius was removed from his position and Adrienna was installed in his stead.

 

Narcissa was terribly embarassed, Regulus had hope that she could come to her senses yet. Draco looked like he couldn't decide between anger or finally having some respect for Regulus.

 

\--

 

On his first day back in London, there was only one thing Regulus could think of, well two to be precise.

 

"Reggie!"

 

A good pair of lungs screaming his name at top capacity had Regulus look up with a smile already blooming on his face. A smile that only brightened when he caught sight of the boy in yellow and green who came running over the meadow with a grin a mile wide. Regulus hurried off the path before bare feet could leave the grass and he snatched up the toddler who shrieked and went in for a tight hug.

 

"Oh how good it is to see you," Regulus laughed and bopped a small nose when Jack pulled back just enough to look at him, "I really loved the drawings you sent me. I hung them all up." Round blue eyes looked up at him, so happy and excited to see him again. Regulus adjusted his hold on the little boy and then looked up, eyes quickly finding the blond woman smiling at them from the red blanket spread over the grass in the shadow of a tree.

 

"Your Mommy is looking real pretty today, isn't she?" Regulus fake-whispered to the toddler who giggled as his fingers tickled his stomach, Olivia laughed and gladly accepted her son into her arms so Regulus could sit down and kiss her cheek. Jack didn't hold out long though and was quickly running off again, making circles around them, kicking his ball around. "It's so good to see you."

 

"Had a long second term?" Olivia guessed and patted her thigh, Regulus smiled and then sighed as he shifted to lay down with his head in her lap, sighing louder when her fingers started working through his hair.

"It feels like this was the longest time until summer break ever," Regulus admitted and then fell into a quiet retelling of what had happened, a Muggle version of events. Olivia listened, laughed and grimaced at the appropriate times, and when he was done, huffing over the drama of it all, she leaned down to kiss him and Regulus smiled at her, already feeling less exhausted.

 

In a few minutes Jack would come running to ask for Regulus to play with him or begging his mother for ice cream but for now Regulus let himself lie with Olivia's fingers playing with his hair.

 

Here, everything was so easy.

 

Especially considering what happened five weeks later.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wohoo and next chapter will finally start the actual plot


	5. Act I - A Brother's Return - Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Main storyline begins.

**Chapter 1: A New Year At Hogwarts**

 

It was a sunny Friday evening when Regulus Black stepped laughingly back into Grimmaudplace, letting Marc kick the door shut. They had just returned from introducing Marc to Olivia, something that had went very well, something that warmed Regulus' heart. It was maybe time to consider revealing the magical side of him to her, he didn't want to call her his girlfriend before she knew all sides of him.

 

"You make me want to puke with your adorableness," Marc muttered and Regulus snorted himself through another round of laughter, a sound that got abruptly cut off in his throat when he rounded into the living room and found Kreacher holding up the evening paper.

 

And the headline was unable to be interpreted wrong.

 

**Sirius Black Escapes Azkaban**

 

Marc caught him at his elbows when Regulus' legs got a little wobbly and Kreacher snapped a chair behind him so Marc could sit him down.

 

"How?"

 

Kreacher handed the paper over to Marc when he stretched out a hand and then stepped close enough that he could lean against Regulus' knees, looking up at him to answer the croaked question, "The Ministry does not say, Master. Kreacher thinks they do not know themselves. Should Kreacher check over the protection spells for Master's home?" Regulus nodded in his shock and Kreacher popped away.

 

"Last night," Marc began then, "apparently in the middle of a storm. They've sent Aurors out to investigate in Azkaban and to search the countryside of the closest coastal point." Regulus would write Dora a message the second he had his thoughts together, and then Andy and Ted and then tell Remus to be careful and maybe ask him to come to London until they found Sirius...

 

Had Dumbledore already sent someone to watch over the Potter boy?

 

Would Sirius know where the Dursleys lived?

 

Was there someone he was forgetting about?

 

"Reg?"

 

"I'm fine," he replied to Marc's question, blinking fast against the dryness in his eyes and then dragging a hand through his hair, "Sirius has absolutely no reason to turn up here. He has no reason to know that I'm alive and there is nothing for him here anymore." Marc hummed and Regulus saw him set the Evening Prophet down on the couch table.

"Sirius' wand?" Marc inquired then while Regulus leaned forward on his chair because breathing was easier like that when his chest felt like caving in on itself.

 

He had just gotten back to really sleeping through the night in a recovering way, why couldn't he just be happy for once...

 

Marc's hand brushed lightly over his back as his friend walked over to the closest couch to sit down himself, Regulus took enough air to answer his question, "In the vault, protected by my magical signature. He can't trick that, nor could be trick any goblin into opening the vault. They can't, not with that one." It had taken Regulus two years to gain that level of trust and respect but now his family heirlooms were secure, and with them the wands of Sirius and Bellatrix.

"Andromeda?" Marc wanted to know next, much to Regulus' personal joy his cousin and his admittedly best friend had joined up to mother Regulus into his grave.

 

"She's moved since Sirius got to Azkaban," Regulus pointed out, "I doubt he'll find out where she lives, and even if, Andy is good at protection spells and as harmless as Ted looks he's a good dueler. And before you ask, my brother would be downright stupid to approach Dora, not now where her new robes are blue, and he would never recognize her anyway."

 

"Potter?"

 

"Dumbledore will have that handled, and I don't even know if Sirius knows where those muggle relatives of Potter's live." Regulus straightened up again when his chest stopped burning, his hands were shaking but Marc gave no obvious notice of it.

"You think Lupin might be in danger?" Marc asked him next and Regulus grimaced, he didn't want to imagine what Remus had to be feeling, if he even knew already. The Ministry would no doubt descend upon him with questions that would bring up all kinds of ugly and painful memories. When Sirius had gone to Azkaban Regulus had lost a brother he hadn't really talked to in years, even before he had vanished. Remus had lost a best friend who had betrayed him so terribly.

 

"I'm not sure. Remus is harboring quite the fury against Sirius but...if you had found yourself confronted with Evan or Barty...would you have been ready to curse them to all hells to stop them?" Regulus didn't dare add his own name to that, he had never wanted to imagine fighting against friends, especially not someone who had been a good one like Marc. Evan and him had talked about it, what they would have done if Marc would stand on the other side of a fight but Regulus couldn't remember Evan's answer anymore.

 

"Not if they didn't attack first." Marc replied and they exchanged a grim look, both of them knew that neither Evan nor Barty had ever carried the patience to wait until they were attacked first.

"I should go. I don't even know if Remus gets the Prophet these days." Regulus decided but he couldn't even move up from the chair, his legs felt weak as butter. Marc shook his head, waved him to remain down as he got back to his own feet.

"No, you stay put. I'll go up, he still in that flat in Glasgow?" Marc wanted to know while he already called his cloak to himself, Regulus could feel the prickle of renewed protection wards sliver down his back, Kreacher was working quick and throughrough as always.

 

"Yes, Glasgow, but Marc..."

 

"No, you are barely able to hold a wand, let alone produce more than a Lumos." Marc protested and they both knew he was right, Regulus just hated to feel useless, "You're staying here. I know Lupin good enough by now to not be hexed on arrival."

 

In the corridor the front door banged open and Kreacher could be heard admonishing someone but it was drowned out by a loud and shrill "REGULUS?"

 

"Perfect, Tonks can look after you. I'm off." Marc decided and Regulus could only watch him leave the room, muffled voices exchanged some quick hushed words and then the door clicked shut again, supposedly behind Marc. A short moment later, Dora turned up in the doorframe.

"Ma is all over the place, hasn't sat down since the paper came in," Dora spluttered out, her hair a flickering unruly mess between a pink pixie cut and a chin-length dark blue one. It made Regulus dizzy and he bend over again, pressing his hands over his face. "I came over to check on you and to give you two warnings ahead of time."

 

"Warnings?" Regulus mumbled into his palms, ears listening to Dora walk closer and then the couch making a noise as she sat down.

"The Department of Magical Law Enforcement will call you in for some questions, probably by someone higher up in the Auror Office, same goes for Ma, it's just protocol." Dora explained, her voice was calm but Regulus doubted that she was, and just because it was protocol didn't mean that Regulus had to like it. "And the Ministry will get an announcement out into the Muggle world, too, tomorrow, they want all options covered. I thought you might wanna talk to your girl beforehand?"

 

Oh by Merlin's beard, Liv.

 

Regulus could feel his heart set out for a short moment before it jumped into a pounding rhythm.

 

How late was it? How did Olivia need from work to home again?

 

Was she picking up Jack from her parents today or tomorrow?

 

When could he call?

 

Regulus flinched when Dora tapped his knee, dropping his hands he straightened up again and met the now brown eyes of the girl he had seen grow up into such a tough young woman.

 

"They will try to talk you into a protection detail for yourself," Regulus made a face upon her words and Dora chuckled, "Yeah, Ma called it quite the irony, too. Protecting a reformed Death Eater against his supposedly white hero brother who snapped. I already told Kingsley that you won't agree to it, that you can very much take care of yourself."

"Sirius doesn't even know I'm alive and even if he's running around there now, it's not like my survival is printed all over the magical world still." Regulus pointed out and felt his brain settle down again a little, at least enough to think clearly.

 

Liv was safe, Jack was safe.

 

There was absolutely no reason to worry about them.

 

"I would still think over maybe going to Brighton for a bit, maybe take your girl and the little boy along, to avoid the mess that this whole business will undoubtedly bring along, and to keep your head on your neck, too. I know you haven't been sleeping so well since the schoolyear ended." Dora bit her lips when Regulus looked over to her again, her eyes showing apologies, "I think your silencing spells need some upgrades." Regulus grimaced, dragged a hand through his hair again, Dora had had some troubles with her flatmate and had spent not a small number of nights in what had by now turned into her room at Grimmaudplace.

 

"I'll think about it," he promised her and Dora smiled at him before walking back into the corridor to find Kreacher for some tea.

 

\--

 

"You want Firewhiskey or something with even more of a burn because I feel like opening the liquor cabinet and pulling out something that doesn't even carry a label," Regulus grumbled through his teeth when Remus came walking into the drawing room the morning after Marc had brought him down from Glasgow.

 

"It's nine in the morning, Reg," Remus complained and a swish of his wand let the glass in Regulus' hand disappear. Regulus scowled and leaned back into the armchair that stood facing the Black Family tapestry. Regulus had turned over book over book in his father's questionable collection of dark magic tomes until he had found the right spell to let him gain control over past decisions of his ancestors, especially those of his mother's.

 

He had reworked branded spots, especially those of family members like Andromeda who had been burned out for loving the wrong person, or poor Marius who hadn't chosen to be born a Squib. (Regulus had tracked him down, met the man who lived peacefully in a muggle care home for the elderly in Brighton now, the city where he had lived ever since he had been thrown out of the family, funny enough to note that it had been just half an hour away from his brother Pollux' summer home.) The only people who were branded out now were Sirius and Bellatrix, the latter of which Regulus had done himself with a good feeling in his heart.

 

Dora was on it now as well, added by the tree's magic the moment Regulus had reformed Andromeda's belonging.

 

"How drunk are you?" Remus wanted to know, having sat down in an armchair next to Regulus, he looked just as lost on sleep as Regulus who had shook himself awake from memory nightmares half the night and stared at the ceiling the other half.

"I'm not drunk. I had one glass to flush away the taste of vomit, that amount hasn't gotten me drunk since I was thirteen." Regulus drily bit out and saw out of the corner of his eyes how Remus eyed the bottle of Firewhiskey on the table between them, "Is Marc up yet?"

 

"Floor was silent still, door closed. If someone should be allowed some sleep, then it's him," Remus pointed out and then nodded towards the bottle of whiskey, "Is it that bad?"

"Do you want to know what I did the day Sirius ran away for the Potters?" Regulus nearly blurted his question out, not knowing if it was an answer to Remus' question, he rolled his head to the side when the werewolf replied in the affirmative, "Sirius had left the house for not even five minutes, my mother was raging worse than I had ever heard her so I begged my father for an escape. My father shoved me into the fireplace and set the floo powder into my hand, then...and I can still see the look in his eyes in my mind, I can still see the anguish on his face. My father told me he was proud of me for being who I am."

 

Regulus blew out a breath and straightened up again, "I was fifteen years old and I don't know to this day if he said it because he actually meant it or because he was afraid I might run away as well. As if the whole ordeal hadn't been terrible enough already. Father squeezed my shoulder and then told me to go to Evan, and I did. It was the first time in years that Evan saw me cry, because I was scared, because I didn't _understand_ why Sirius would do this to me. Not to the family, not to the name, to _me_! And now, here I am, more than double that age, and still not understanding my brother at all but I'm still paying the price," and he held up the letter with the official Ministry seal, "Came this morning, official invitation to a hearing by the Head Auror himself. They have some questions concerning my former allegiance and how I could be involved in Sirius' escape. Dawlish is not my fan."

 

"James," Remus began then and Regulus winced, settling his eyes on the letter, "I know you hated him and he wasn't very fond of you, either, but I know that he couldn't understand for the longest time why Sirius just didn't take you along, kidnap you if he had to. I don't know what happened with Sirius, I really have no idea. He was my best friend, one third of it anyway, but I clearly didn't know him at all either. The best thing we can do now is to not let him dictate our pain again, to not let him be the reason for our fear. They're gonna find him and he'll go back to Azkaban, and we're gonna live our lives. Which means digging into horcrux magic," Remus changed the topic and Regulus was so thankful for it, "I read through one of the books that Marculus got from his father's library and I think I found something that we should discuss."

 

\--

 

_By the time Regulus apparated onto Trafalgar Square the confrontation between Order Members and Death Eaters, curses and spells were flying while muggles were screaming. The snow had stopped falling but the ground was covered heavily and Regulus almost found it hilarious how Evan cursed right next to him, having apparated himself right into a snow bank._

 

_The masks set snugly over their faces and the hoods pulled deep over their heads as well, there was no way someone without inner knowledge would be able to distinguish between them, let alone tell their real identities. Regulus himself was barely able to tell who had come, aside from Evan and Barty who had come with him and Bellatrix who never bothered with any concealments anyway._

 

_"Remember what I said," Barty told him quietly as they all raised their wands, "If you don't want to get involved, don't. Keep a low profile, get those of us out who got hit." Barty proposed again and Regulus nodded, his heart was pumping in his chest. Evan and Barty threw themselves into the fight but Regulus did keep back, observed his surroundings._

 

_Some of the Order members he recognized, mostly those who had gone to school with him until they had graduated. The Prewett twins were fighting back to back, Marlene McKinnon and her bright blond hair not far from them. There was no sign of Lupin, Pettigrew or Evans but James Potter was in the midst of it all, Sirius attached to him in some kind of invisible string as always._

 

_Regulus wasn't left alone long, soon enough he had to go onto the defense when Frank Longbottom of all people sent a shocker towards him. The boy two years older than Regulus looked a bit puzzled when his opponent didn't attack in his own way, just sent those curses coming for him right back, it was not how a Death Eater usually fought._

 

_It wasn't even an Order member whose curse hit Regulus right in the chest and set him flying high and then hard towards the ground. Entirely winded he remained motionless on the ground, a ringing in his ears, his wand still in his hand but his fingers nearly numb._

 

_And what was even worse?_

 

_His mask lay cracked, revealing half of his face to the world._

 

_He heard steps coming closer and then a wand got pointed straight at him again, behind it Frank Longbottom was staring down at him, eyes widening when they caught onto Regulus' blue ones._

 

_"Nice, Frank, you got one!"_

 

_And then Sirius was there, slapping a hand to a still frozen Frank's back, "Now, who have we...No!" The shocked cry was worse than any cursing or insulting could ever be and Regulus willed his breath and mobility to return to him so he could go, he needed to leave, he didn't need this, "What have you done?"_

 

_"Sirius."_

 

_"What have you done, you blithering idiot?" Sirius began to scream, lurching forward as if he wanted to punch the answer out of Regulus, but Longbottom snapped both arms around him to hold him back, "Can't you say no for once in your fucking life? Do you wish for death that much?"_

 

_It was the last thing Regulus would hear from his brother in a long long time._

 

_For in the next moment Sirius and Longbottom had to break apart to defend themselves against Unforgivables coming their way and Regulus' view of them vanished with a crack when Evan grabbed his shoulder._

 

\--

 

"Oh my, come in, quickly, the weather is dreadful today," Olivia greeted him with when she opened the apartment door, Regulus hurried inside where it was warm and dry. What she saw probably as a just moody summer turn, was in truth a consequence of some of the Dementors being used to help in the search for Sirius Black.

 

Fog and rain had come with them from the North Sea, robbing them of the beautiful summer they had had until then.

 

His brother was by now apparently not only able to ruin someone's mood but the whole weather right along.

 

"Come here, take off your jacket." Olivia pulled him into the small living room and Regulus tripped over a little red truck, nearly face-planting into the couch if old Quidditch instincts weren't still somehow there. "Gods, I am so sorry, this weather really threw a wrench in my whole day plans with you. My mother's arthritis is acting up and so she couldn't take Jack," Olivia was rambling while she more or less helped Regulus out of his soaked jacket and shoes even though Regulus would have been perfectly capable of doing so himself, "And the sitter canceled on me because she got sick and then my boss called if I could review a speech of his because I'm apparently more down to earth in my views and..." Olivia stopped herself looked to how she was rubbing Regulus' arms while he only smiled at her in a little amusement, "I am _totally_ babying you right now."

 

"Hi," Regulus answered to that and gently pulled her closer for a kiss, "It's so good to see you." Olivia grinned and then straightened up again.

"I'm gonna hang your jacket in the shower and then I'm gonna make us some tea," she decided and called down the corridor as she walked away towards it, "Jack, can you bring Reggie a towel?" A small head popped around the door of the nursery and Jack grinned before darting over into the bathroom.

 

Olivia vanished inside it, too, but Jack came running out a moment later already, big fluffy blue towel clutched in his still pudgy little hands.

 

"Hey there, champion," Regulus greeted the boy who climbed on the couch and then his thighs, clumsily trying to throw the towel over Regulus' head but only managing it after Regulus had helped a little. "We gotta find someone to turn off the rain, huh? This is not a nice summer." Jack shook his head and went to hug him, "But when it's not so hot, I have so much more chances of tickling you silly." Regulus chuckled and then swung Jack up, dangling him over his head before landing him on his back on the couch next to him, fingers immediately flying to that ticklish tummy.

 

Olivia made them some tea and Jack's attention had shifted back to his toys by the time she handed Regulus his cup, he was over regularly enough by now to not hold any real excitement anymore, especially not on a rainy day.

 

"Does your visit have anything to do with the news on the radio this morning?" Olivia wanted to know and Regulus nearly winced hard enough to spill his tea, "Because even though the guy sounds quite intense, I think I will be fine. This is a good area, we're not known for harboring prison escapees." Olivia laughed over her own little joke but sobered up again when she caught Regulus' gaze, "What am I missing?"

 

"He's my brother," Regulus chose to rip the bandaid off without any anticipation as the muggles liked to call it, Olivia's eyes went wide as plates as she blindly set her tea cup down. "Older to be precise, a year. He and I never really saw eye to eye, and he...he ran away from home when he was sixteen. We didn't really have the best family, and looking back on it, I understand his reasons to go but he still left me. We didn't really talk anymore at school, he had his friends, I had mine and once he graduated there was no contact anymore. There was a terrible...I don't know what happened really, it was in the years after my accident where I was too weak to really leave my home but something caused Sirius to snap...or he had hidden that side of him so well before but he...murdered thirteen people and went to prison for it."

 

"Are you in any danger now where he escaped?" Olivia worried, taking Regulus' cup from him and setting it down on the table so she could wrap her hands around his, squeezing.

"No, I'm not," he reassured her with a smile, "Between the no contact and miscommunication between people, I am quite convinced that Sirius thinks I'm dead so there is no reason for him to seek me out. And they'll find him soon, he can't be hiding forever."

 

"They didn't haunt you with questions, right? The police? I know you don't like talking about your teenage years," Olivia asked with a frown but Regulus shook his head again, reaching up a hand to cup her face, "Good because blood doesn't always make family and if your brother is a lunatic, that's not your fault. Stay here tonight, we can cook something together and you can give me company while Jack starts crawling the walls because I have to keep saying no to going out."

 

"That sounds like a wonderful idea. And Liv?" She hummed upon his question, eyes already falling shut and her leaning forward, "thank you for being so accepting."

"I'm not dating your brother, I'm dating you," Olivia emphasized and then captured his lips in a kiss, pushing him down onto the couch.

 

A little bit later, flawlessly moving around each other in the kitchen while Jack watched cartoons and argued with the plush lion he had gotten from Regulus for his last birthday, Regulus found it a good time as ever to propose vacation ideas. "We could go down to my cottage in Brighton for as long of those three weeks as you want, go down to the village, the beach, fall asleep on the patio, watch the stars. Just the three of us." Olivia was beaming by the time he had had finished most of his practiced speech, "You could use the relaxation time and honestly, I could use the time away from London."

 

"I love that idea," she told him and wrapped both arms around his neck to peck his lips, "Let's disappear for a while, Mister Black." He grinned down at her and was about to kiss her again when Olivia suddenly spun away from him, "Oh no, the water." Just as Olivia reached the overflowing pot, something clirred in the living room and Jack started crying.

 

"Save dinner, I got the kid!" Regulus called out as he rushed around the counter and Olivia was laughing loud enough that he could hear it even over Jack's crying because he had turned over the vase on the couch table.

 

Who could worry over prison escaping brothers when they had this.

 

\--

 

Regulus' good mood died the moment he stepped past the front door of his home and found Kreacher popping into existence right at his feet, eyes glowering in direction of the sitting room. His whistling stopped from one breath to the next and he slowly leaned over Kreacher to drop the umbrella into its stand.

 

"What has you so growly, my friend?" He wondered, carefully and slowly moving around Kreacher who muttered under his breath for a moment before looking up at him.

"Kreacher has told both Misses that Master Regulus is out," Kreacher began, went so far as to cross his arms over his chest, Regulus raised an eyebrow, "but they insisted on staying, been drinking Kreacher's tea and glaring at each other."

 

"Who?" Regulus wondered in utter confusion, taking off his jacket and rolling his eyes when Kreacher let it disappear, "It's not even really wet," he mumbled in complaint, kicking off his shoes before dragging a hand through his hair, "Who is awaiting me then? I wasn't expecting anyone." The house was quiet, no muttering came from the portraits which meant that Kreacher had either silenced them because he had gotten annoyed or the guest was welcomed by them.

 

"Mistress Narcissa and Mistress Andromeda."

 

Ah. Both then.

 

What a joy.

 

"Where is Dora?"

 

"Miss Dora had to go into work."

 

Going from a wonderful day with Liv right to dealing with squabbling family, how great.

 

Regulus sighed and began to walk towards the sitting room, he would have hoped that Dora might have been able to give him some back-up but he knew all hands were needed on deck now. She couldn't skip out as a trainee auror just because her mother's cousin didn't want to face two women in his home.

 

When he rounded into the living room, he found his cousins poised to perfection on opposite sides of the couch, fingers curled around tea cups in lieu of wands. The sisters, so unlike another and still visibly related, looked up from where they had both been staring at different corners of the room. Regulus stopped five steps into the room and raised an eyebrow in a non-verbal prompt to speak but Andromeda simply scoffed at him and Narcissa pursed her lips.

 

This was why he couldn't have nice things.

 

Maybe he could floo Adrienna? Or ask Julienna if she spontaenously wanted to come around? Maybe with Sarena in tow? They could distract Andromeda and Narcissa just perfectly.

 

"What a lovely surprise," he began, sarcasm dripping from his lips, "It must be something dire that it brings both of you to my doorstep and into my living room while I'm not even there."

"Are you still seeing that _woman_ then?" Narcissa wanted to know with a tone that Regulus chose to ignore because he was still too happy, Jack had squealed so much when Regulus had mentioned the beach, Andy smiled at him though.

"Who I am seeing under what circumstances is of no one's business but my own, and now, can someone pray tell me why you are _both_ here?" Regulus wanted to know again and the sisters exchanged a brief look, almost accidental.

 

His relationship with Lucius Malfoy was colder than freezing since Regulus had set his demotion from the Governor's Board into motion and advocated for Adrienna to be given the free spot. Narcissa hadn't been happy either, in her eyes he was still too strict on her precious wonderful boy while Regulus remained dead set on not being strict enough yet.

 

"You cannot be so ignorant to the situation at hand, Reg," Andy told him then and Regulus just looked back at her, "With Sirius out there..."

"Sirius doesn't even know I'm alive or that I was pardoned for my crimes." Regulus pointed out, moving around the armchair to sit down, "I don't think Azkaban gets that many newspapers or visitors, so unless either of you have been to see him, I have no reason to believe that Sirius does not still think me dead. And even if, what is he gonna do, without a wand and the entire magical world on the outlook for him. Sirius isn't just gonna waltz up here, he hates this place and the new wards wouldn't let him in anyway. I'm fine." He leaned back and resisted the urge to hide behind crossed arms, he was the Master of his family, no small boy anymore who had to do whatever his older cousins were telling him.

 

"Your concern is noted but I won't be spending much time here in London until school starts off again, so don't worry about it," Regulus spoke and his cousins reacted quite differently, Andromeda smiled happily, Narcissa scowled in displeasure. "Your judgement is noted, Narcissa."

"You have so many options, Regulus, so many beautiful witches who would die to become the future Misses Black but you keep on preferring this woman. Not only is she a muggle, but she also had a child out of wedlock." Narcissa sneered, daintily holding the tea cup, "What image is that going to present for this family."

 

"I've told you before, Narcissa," Regulus replied to her with his voice showing sharp edges, "If you don't have anything good to say, don't say anything at all. You are not carrying the Black name any longer and the image of this family is my concern and mine alone."

"Yes, I can see that wonderfully in those articles you are writing for the Prophet," Narcissa huffed and then chose to focus on her tea when Regulus sent her a glare.

 

"I think it's wonderful that you're following your heart," Andromeda fully ignored the tension in the room, sending Regulus a warm smile, "Olivia sounds like a wonderful person and she clearly makes you happy." Narcissa gave an eyeroll but Regulus ignored her, working up a conversation with Andromeda instead, even if that led back to talking about Sirius.

 

\--

 

The door had barely been opened when Jack was already pushing past his legs to run screaming into the house, not a doubt left in Regulus' mind to be finding Jack with his nose plastered to the deck doors in the living room soon. Regulus laughed and fully opened the door to give himself and Olivia enough room to carry the bags inside.

 

"You'd think I am keeping the boy caged up all year long," Liv mumbled and set her bags down at the bottom of the stairs, there was only one bedroom and one bath under the roof, the master suite, Jack would sleep down in the guestroom that had by now been turned into a nursery really. Regulus brushed a kiss against her forehead and then set his hands upon her shoulder and guided her towards the living room door.

 

"Sit down, pull your feet up, it's vacation time," he instructed her before he jogged outside and brought in their last bag from the driveway. They had taken a cab from the nearest train station, Grandfather Pollux' and Aunt Cass' summer cottage was set on the outskirts of a small coastal village outside of Brighton. They had been the only ones in the family who had not insisted on vacation homes to be placed in the most recluse of pureblood society vacation villages.

 

He closed the front door and then blew out a long happy breath, the hearing in the Auror Office had gone easy enough, no one was suspecting Regulus to be hiding a wanted mass murderer in a closet, not even bloody Dawlish. The protection detail he had brushed off, he was already paranoid enough, he didn't need actual people following him now where he had his own ghosts to do that still. He could take care of himself, even if the foe was Sirius.

 

Kreacher had filled the fridge and the cabinets with food the day before, though Olivia of course believed that Regulus had asked a friend from the village for it, it remained though that they wouldn't need to go for groceries in the next days. Regulus had brought his wand but he wasn't expecting to be needing it while they were here, Dora and Kreacher wouldn't have let him leave without it though.

 

He wondered who got whom more batty in these days as he carried the bags into Jack's room and up into the master bedroom. When he joined Olivia on the couch, Jack had abandoned the patio door in order to tear into his backpack, toys winning out over beach for now, it would surely look different the moment the sun rose tomorrow.

 

"This is good," Liv sighed and rolled into his arms, rubbing her nose against his chest, "We both really need this. Our three last letters are just frustrated ranting over three pages, the world can do without us for a bit."

 

It could indeed.

 

Two days ago, after returning from the Auror Office, Remus, Marc and him had apparated onto a meadow on the unlived side of the Great Lake of Hogwarts' grounds and the locket had died under Regulus' hand. It had been freeing. Jack had found his plushies and blocks and built himself his little corner between couch and armchair as he had done the last two times as well.

 

"Nap first, dinner later?" Regulus proposed already quite sleepy and Liv blindly fumbled for a blanket to throw over themselves before wrapping an arm around him.

 

"You're reading my mind."

 

\--

 

They spent wonderful peaceful days in that cottage, just the three of them, far away from the stress of their jobs and the hunt for mass murdering brothers. It almost felt like a little family and it made Regulus long for something he had never thought possible when he had been younger. Of course the weight of continuing the Black line had rested on his shoulders but it had been a thought for the future, in the moment surviving had been more important.

 

After he had been pardoned and given this second chance at life, he had made it a priority to get better first before even thinking of dating anyone, he still wasn't sure he deserved any of it but he never wanted to miss having Liv and Jack in his life. Proven again when he opened one eye after a hand landed wetly on his forehead and he came face to face with a dripping grinning Jack being dangled over his head by his mother.

 

"Have you found land again, little fish?" He teased and sat up so he could take the toddler to let Liv dry herself up with a towel, Jack grinned and snuggled against Regulus' no doubt sun warmed chest. After a moment spent in the quiet village, walking along the piers, eating lunch in a little rustic cafe where the owner complained the city folk looked too skinny, Regulus and Liv had packed some things and gone down to the rather private beach corner down the staircase at the back of the cottage.

 

"Come next year, he's gonna swim better than any fish in that ocean," Liv chuckled and handed Regulus a towel after sitting down herself, she preferred the shade of the umbrella while Regulus could never get enough of the sun. Jack stretched up arms quite voluntarily and let Regulus gently rub him dry, making some humming sounds when Regulus ruffled through his hair. "Are you sure you don't wanna go in?"

 

Regulus looked up and out towards the shoreline upon Liv's question, he loved the beach, the quiet and the calm it brought with the waves crashing in the background but he hadn't stepped a single foot into the water yet. He hadn't done it since Kreacher's magic had pulled him from the inferi's grasp, the tub, the shower, with that he was alright, walking through a knee-high river during some research trip with Remus and Marc had already been a little sweat-inducing, but a lake or the ocean?

 

Regulus couldn't.

 

Liv knew there had been some kind of accident involving a lake in a cave and him nearly drowning when he had been a teenager so she never pushed him but she didn't give up either.

 

"Maybe later before we go up, with my feet a little," Regulus told Liv and she leaned over to kiss him before turning to find something in their basket to eat. Regulus himself shifted over into the shade next to her and laid back down, letting Jack spread himself out over his chest for a nap.

"I could stay here forever, you know," Liv sighed in delight when she got comfortable, too, breaking a cookie in two and dropping one into Regulus' mouth because his hands were too busy stroking over Jack's back, "This peace, this quiet. It's such a wonderful paradise."

 

"You'd grow bored after a month," Regulus pointed out with a smile and Liv laughed, "We'd both be climbing the ceilings after a month of so much quiet. You'd miss shopping and art galleries and there is nowhere near enough room for all of our combined books here."

"There is a lot of land to built our very own library," Liv mentioned and laid down at his side, rolling onto her side to watch him, one of her hands brushing through Jack's messy hair first and then through Regulus' own. "And we would of course keep a place in London, for when we grow bored."

 

"There was a lot of 'we' in that," Regulus noted, hoped his quickening heart wouldn't unsettle Jack from his napping, Liv smiled only brighter, "Does that mean what I want it to mean?"

"If it's me wanting to drag you in front of my parents and family and introduce you as my boyfriend, then yes, Regulus Black, that's what it means," She clarified and laughed when he begged her closer.

 

They kissed, slow and long, and Regulus surely felt as if there could not be any evil left in the world right now.

 

"I'd be honored," he told Liv when they broke apart again and she snuggled against his shoulder, her fingers tracing over the faded mark on his arm, "It would make me so happy. Introducing you to what is left of my family as well, I want that." And further more he would introduce her to his world, show her that magic was real, show her what wonders there were in this world.

 

He would let himself dream of a future with her, a family of his own, someone to come home to.

 

"We can do it throughout christmas break, when you're back in London, that gives me enough time to get my mother away from any embarassing stories and overreactions." Liv proposed and Regulus nodded, feeling so light, so happy.

 

A family. A future. A life.

 

\--

 

"Is it okay?" Liv's voice was careful and soft as her thumb stroked over the back of his hand but Regulus nodded, looked down at the gentle waves brushing against his shins, the pleasant feeling of his toes sinking into the sand as they slowly walked along the beach. On Liv's hip, Jack was watching the birds dive down into the ocean for fish.

 

He couldn't imagine swimming just yet but this was nice, this was another part of himself that he regained with Liv's help. He stopped them after a few more steps and pulled Liv and Jack close, wrapped his arms around them, and then it just felt natural to say "I love you. Both of you. I never thought I would get to be so happy in my life." Liv's face lit up and Jack looked between them.

"I love you, too." She whispered and Regulus closed his eyes when they leaned their foreheads against each other, "You've been there for me for so long now. I am so happy to have met you, Regulus."

 

"Jack love, too!" They got both honored with sticky fingers being shoved in their faces and they broke away with a laugh again, Regulus grabbing Jack from Liv and swinging him up onto his shoulders. "And Jack hungry!"

"Well, then we better go back up, can't have you gnawing on our fingers," Regulus pointed out and tickled a small bare foot, Jack shrieked with laughter.

 

Back up in the cottage, Liv set to get Jack bathed and herself free of salt water while Regulus got started on dinner, jumping for the ceiling when he closed the fridge and found Kreacher looking back at him.

 

"What are you doing here?" He whispered and threw a look over his shoulder to the hallway but Jack was still singing so he couldn't be out of the tub yet.

"Kreacher apologizes to Master but Mister Lupin send a letter and Kreacher thinks Master Regulus will like reading it." Kreacher explained and handed Regulus a short note, "Kreacher will go again now, he has left Miss Dora in the kitchen and does not want any damage."

 

"Thank you, Kreacher."

 

Kreacher bowed and the quietly cracked away again.

 

Regulus set the meat down on the counter and then unfolded the short note.

 

_'Dumbledore offered me the DADA position and I said yes, of course. Thank you, Reg, he told me you've been proposing me for years already. - Remus'_

 

Regulus smiled and then stuffed the note into his pocket, finally good news after good news after all this drama, Remus would be a great teacher, the kids would finally learn something again.

 

\--

 

A few days after returning to Grimmaudplace, Regulus found himself staring at Dora in the kitchen, cup of coffee halfway to his lips, across the table from him, still tired from last night's moon, Remus was staring down at his toast.

 

"Can you repeat that," Remus asked when he caught himself first despite the aching bones, "because it sounds so stupid that I cannot possibly have understood right." Dora sighed and pulled up a chair so she could sit down, pulling over a cup and the coffee can.

"The Ministry has ordered Hogwart's borders to be guarded by a legion of Dementors," Dora repeated what she had said the first time around and Regulus emptied his cup even though it was a bit too hot still.

 

"I can't even come up with words," he said when he had swallowed and relished a little in the burn, "I knew Fudge was an idiot but this really takes the cake. How desperate is he getting for one success in his career to endanger an entire generation of wizards and witches like this? How many people are capable of a Patronus charm at Hogwarts if even one of those things grows bored and comes for a little snack?" Regulus ranted and then picked up his wand, he conjured up paper, quill and ink.

 

"Are you writing a new article?" Dora asked in obvious amusement, even Remus was weakly smiling, Regulus fought the urge to stick out his tongue. He was in good regular contact with some writers at the Prophet these days, dared to say that he was even becoming friends with one or two of them. Writing angry revealing articles was bringing just as much joy as seeing a room full of happy faces with finished potions before them.

 

"How come Dumbledore would allow this?" Remus wanted to know and Dora shrugged, so both of them turned to Regulus who briefly looked up again from where he had already begun to write.

"I don't know," was the only thing he had to say, "Maybe he thinks by appeasing Fudge with this, he'll finally get left alone with Hogwarts' inner ongoings. Are you still set on taking the train?"

 

"Well," Remus began with a grim smile, snatching up another slice of toast when Dora got up to get herself a plate, "I was gonna do it for the memories but now I think I'm gonna do it alone for the protection sake in it. There are a few kids on that train who went through some things in the last war, I wouldn't want a dementor to take advantage." Regulus nodded and started another paragraph, "Can you conjure up a Patronus, Tonks?"

 

"Yes, Regulus taught me after I passed the entrance exams at the Aurors."

 

"I've been playing around with something," Remus admitted then and his tone made Regulus pause and look up, "I'm wondering if you two might want to learn it so I can see how well it works."

 

\--

 

Regulus was sitting at the desk in his private quarters, pausing over a letter to Ted that was intending to ask for some advice on how to tell your non-magical girlfriend that you were a wizard. Ted might have only ever loved Andromeda but he had muggle grandparents who had been told the truth about their grandson at some point.

 

He was hoping for a little bit more help than Marc's stupid comments or Dora's too dramatic ideas had been, Remus' story about how his parents had met was sweet but Regulus wasn't going to set some creature onto Liv to play magical hero.

 

"Does Mister Black like some tea with the cookies?"

 

Regulus looked away from his awkwardly penned letter to where Dobby was done fussing over the cookie bowl on the table by the armchair where Regulus loved to read in cold winter evenings.

 

"Later maybe, Dobby, I don't want to eat so close to the feast, would only have Pomona frown over me not eating enough again," Regulus answered the free elf who now properly worked at Hogwarts, prompting Kreacher to be horrified when Regulus had talked about it. Kreacher had needed a good long moment to find his voice but then he had ranted worse about house elves and wages than he ever had about muggles and blood-traitors back in the day when Regulus' mother had still screamed the house down on a daily basis.

 

Dobby was proud of his new position though.

 

"Dobby understands well, Mister and..." but Dobby couldn't continue because they both froze as the silver glimmering wolf ghosted through a wall and sat down on his haunches.

 

"Dementors boarded the train. One got to Harry, briefly, he is fine now. I chased them off but the children are terrified."

 

Remus had just finished speaking when his Patronus dissolved and Regulus was left with a wide-eyed Dobby and a quiet sitting room. No one moved for a good few seconds but then Regulus dropped his quill into the ink bottle and jumped to his feet, rushing to find his shoes and cloak.

 

"Dobby, go and tell the other elves that they should set chocolate onto every seat in the Great Hall tonight, and not liquid or pudding or something. Just simple chocolate, that works best." Regulus called out while he struggled himself into his shoes and nearly choked himself on his cloak as he hurried to the door, wand at the ready.

 

"Dobby will make sure!"

 

\--

 

"You got a message as well then," Minerva commented as Regulus slipped out into the dreary day, sending a quick glance up to the distant sight of the looming dementors, his fingers twitched around his wand and he tensed his shoulders quite involuntarily.

"Came right away," he told his colleague and fell into step with her when Minerva strode forward, they took the quickest path down the school grounds there was, ears and eyes open for any unwelcome advances of the soul-eating kind.

 

"I would have hoped they at least had the decency to keep away from the train," Gryffindor's House Head huffed when they closed the gates behind themselves and set out for the train station, "What do they think? That some student is hiding Black in his trunk? That Remus Lupin is smuggling him in his pockets? Boarding the train is unacceptable, who knows what could have happened." Minerva kept on muttering as Regulus followed her up the stairs onto the platform.

 

The train was just then rolling in and Regulus glared at the black figures crowding closer, a quick slash of his wand and they backed off with a hiss when the silver shining fox began to run a wide circle.

 

"Good idea," Minerva commented and a quick spell sent her cat out as well, in front of them the train ran into the station and stopped with a deafening screech. "I'll go and make sure they get onto the carriages safely. Please do me a favor, Regulus and keep an eye on things here." Regulus nodded, eyes set on the doors of the train opening and students spilling out. Minerva left with the first pale faced ones and Regulus greeted some Slytherins who stumbled out of the train.

 

He got some looks, wasn't even really surprised about it, he had expected some wariness from especially Non-Slytherins with Sirius' face all over the newspapers and wanted posters now. The only ones who broke out into smiles upon seeing his face were five familiar faces of what was now a group of Fifth Years, the four girls and one tired looking boy moved towards him.

 

"Everything alright?"

 

"We were up front," Sarena Rosier answered right away, silver Prefect badge on her chest sitting right next to the green and silver tie. Next to her, standing as close as Regulus knew it from her, Julienna Greengrass nodded along, her own silver badge sparkling in the light of the lanterns, her tie blue. "The dementors boarded the train at the back and..." Sarena interrupted her explanation for a sharp whistle, a hand snapping out to seize up another familiar face with almost equally light blond hair, "Cut it out, Malfoy or I'll throw Slytherin into the negatives in your name!"

 

Draco made to snap something back at his new Prefect but caught Regulus' eyes and closed his lips again, thinning them into one straight line, "Good evening, Professor," he grumbled instead and then shook off Sarena's hand before stomping away with his gaggle of friends. Sarena shook her head and quite visibly brushed the whole topic off when she effortlessly swung back to the far more interesting topic of the dementors.

 

While she explained what other students had told her, added to it by Julienna and their friend from Gryffindor, Samantha Macmillan, as well as their Hufflepuff friends, Theresa Fawley and Cedric Diggory – to Regulus' non-existent surprise and actual relief those two were holding hands – Regulus kept on sending looks around, his patronus still running circles over him. Harry Potter jumped out of the train maybe two waggons down from him in the next moment, followed by Granger and the youngest Weasley boy as always, Longbottom and the Weasley girl were with them as well this time.

 

They all looked rather shaken, Potter was white as a ghost, and all of them made a barely disguised double-take upon catching sight of Regulus. He forced himself to ignore it, to focus back on the girls and Diggory in front of him, of course Potter would eye him strangely, there was a mass murderer out there with his last name.

 

It was a miracle no newspaper had plainly written it out and called the fugitive Regulus Black's brother yet, but surely even those students who didn't know would ask themselves if there was a connection there.

 

Potter and his friends hurried up after some shared whispers and it was Longbottom who threw a look over his shoulders back to Regulus. And Regulus had absolutely no doubt in his body and soul that at least he was in the know about the Black family enough, his great-aunt still lived and she was a born Black.

 

"Do you think we can learn the patronus charm, Professor?" Theresa Fawley wanted to know when Sarena's rant about the Ministry's incompetence had ended. Regulus smiled at the girl with the long dark hair now leaning against her boyfriend's side.

"I fear, Theresa, the Patronus is not something taught in school, it is a very difficult defensive spell that is far beyond NEWT levels but I can assure you that within Hogwarts' borders you'll be perfectly safe from them."

 

"Grandfather said I'd be safe from them on the train, too." Sarena pointed out dryly, her fingers twisting her wand around, the gesture as always turning up memories of Evan in Regulus that he viciously fought down.

 

"Write him, why don't you?" Regulus proposed her and Sarena snorted, "I'm convinced the Ministry will hear from a lot of angry parents after this day, and a complaint from Silvan Rosier might actually reach the Minister." Regulus pointed out and Sarena's lips twitched into a sharp smirk, "And who knows," Regulus added with a smile as he saw a figure in a shabby grey cloak jump from the train maybe six feet from them, "Maybe if you ask your new Defense Professor nicely, he might just be willing to throw some extracurriculars."

 

Remus had caught his eyes upon the words describing his new job and rolled his eyes when Regulus' sentence washed over him, they smiled at each other and shook hands when Remus joined their little group, his eyes flickering over the faces of his future students. Regulus had no idea which houses would have Defense together, for Remus' mental state he hoped it wasn't Gryffindor and Slytherin.

 

Faces swivelled up and around to turn their focus from Regulus to Remus, curious eyes checking out their new Defense teacher. Theresa and Diggory were smiling quickly, just as Samantha, Julienna and Sarena took a moment longer to observe.

 

"Let me make a few introductions, give you the gist before Dumbledore makes it official. Meet Remus Lupin, he has been a friend of mine for a long time and he'll finally be a good teacher again." The five teenagers scrunched up their nose in memory of the last two years, "You'll have an exciting year ahead of you, no doubt." Sarena's gaze jumped up to the distant sight of the dementors and Regulus sighed, "Yeah, that one will be a thrilling experience as well. For all of us. Get up into the castle now, you must be hungry."

 

The five teenagers took their leave and rushed down to catch one of the last carriages, Regulus turned to face Remus and their faces both shuttered down.

 

"Please tell me that thing didn't get close to seriously inflict harm upon Potter?" Regulus wanted to know and shifted his eyes up to where his fox had sat down in the air, tail flicking nervously, eyes watching the very faint sight of black cloaked ghostly figures.

"I wish I could." Remus was brutally honest and his face said everything about how close it had been, how damn close it must have been.

 

"Damn it." Regulus sighed, dragging a hand down his face, of all the children on that train, of course it had to be Potter, the boy couldn't go a first school week without trouble or mortal danger. "I'm sorry, Remus, that couldn't have been easy." Remus nodded, a far away look in his eyes as he stared down the path that led into the forest and then up to the castle.

 

"I know you've said before that he looks so much like James, just with Lily's yes but...waking up and seeing him under this monster...The first time I saw him in twelve years, it feels so unreal." Remus confessed and smiled, Regulus patted his shoulder and they both got moving down the stairs and up onto the path where one carriage remained, the Thestral looking incredibly annoyed for having been left waiting for so long.

 

"Are you planning on letting him know who you are?" Regulus wanted to know when they had climbed onto the carriage and got going, Remus grimaced.

"Not right away," Remus answered and Regulus could see that it was tearing him up inside to think like that, "I want him to form an opinion of me without seeing me as his parents' friend. And I'd prefer Sirius to be captured first, would make explaining it all easier."

 

The forest broke away around them and Regulus could see the exakt moment where Remus caught sight of the castle, blinding smile breaking out over his face.

 

"Welcome home."

 

\--

 

"And let us all give a warm welcome to Professor Remus Lupin who will take over the position for Defense Against the Dark Arts," Dumbledore started off the applause in the Hall and Regulus chuckled when Remus flushed under it. As Dumbledore went on then about warning the students of the dementors, Regulus noticed the sly glances thrown in his direction from all four tables.

 

"Merlin, I forgot how tactless kids are," Remus noted as the feast started around them and Regulus patted Dobby's shoulder between their chairs when he set a plate of chocolate down on the table.

"I don't think that goes for children alone," Regulus replied drily, "Vector hasn't managed to look me in the eyes since I came back and Hagrid has been tenser than usual around me," he pointed out and got himself a pinch in the arm from Pomona for the tone of his voice.

 

"They'll find him soon then it'll be over," Pomona threw in as an argument and looked from Regulus to Remus, "For both of you. I'm really happy to have you here with us, Remus, most of all because that Potter boy needs someone who can tell him about his parents." They all looked down towards where Potter sat among the usual group of people, which meant right in the center of a ginger party. Some lively discussion seemed to be going on and the only one of the bunch who was glancing their way was Hermione Granger who flushed when Regulus caught her eyes but then quickly also looked back over to them.

 

"Keep an eye out for the two boys sitting across from Harry," Regulus remembered the warning he had wanted to give, "I would call them your successors but that would mean me seeing the Marauders legacy as something worthwile to keep alive," he drawled and Remus gave him a scowling glare, "They're pranksters, and they're awfully good at it. I've rediscovered all my secret paths within the first two months of their first year."

 

"Who are they?"

 

"Fred and George Weasley, don't ask me which is which, I only ever guess." Regulus mentioned and then leaned back when Pomona leaned forward to face Remus, he took the time that Pomona told her own story about Fabian and Gideon Prewett's nephews to pick out the four faces of Black's Fancy Four at their respective tables.

 

Theresa was leaning against Cedric Diggory's shoulder while both of them talked with the small group that Diggory called his closest circle. Samentha was close to Potter's gang for once, sitting next to one of the Weasley twins, talking to Bell and Spinnet, maybe some early stage Quidditch strategies. Julienna was leaning half across the table at the Ravenclaw one, pointing at something in a book that Roger Davies had placed next to his dinner plate, next to Julie little Laureen looked a bit overwhelmed over her first evening at Hogwarts. At the Slytherin table, Sarena had somehow found herself in the middle of the Quidditch team, whispering something to Marcus Flint who then seemed to snap something over to the wildly laughing group around Draco Malfoy.

 

And all around students kept on stealing glances but snapped their eyes away when Regulus looked their way.

 

"You should have made that public statement to distance yourself from Sirius," Remus said again when the feast was slowly winding down, "Like Dora proposed."

"I don't think that would have lessened the looks," Regulus muttered, picking up the bowl of rice pudding that he could grow fat on if he wasn't keen on being active on weekends or joining into some Quidditch with the students in the free time afternoons.

 

"They'll get bored by it soon enough," Filius threw in from Pomona's other side, "They're kids, by next week they'll have realized that Regulus is still their very boring too neat Potions teacher."

"I'm not boring!" Regulus protested in an affront, the laughter of the people surrounding him going under when Dumbledore sent the students off to their common rooms. "I'll see you at breakfast, I need to welcome my new First Years."

 

"You have Prefects for that, Regulus."

 

"When my mass murderer brother is being searched by dementors, I like a hands on approach," Regulus called back over his shoulders and then jogged to catch up to where Flint and Sarena were just then leading the new Slytherins to the dungeons.

 

\--

 

Regulus was entirely unsurprised that the students quickly came to love Remus as a teacher, aside from all the low competition he had for the spot of favourite DADA teacher in recent years, Remus was truly been born for teaching. He had the knowledge, the skills and even more patience for it than Regulus could call his own.

 

Nothing showed that better when even the majority of Slytherin admitted that they liked Professor Lupin, excluding a few, the usual band of trouble and cause of worry.

 

They had continued on the dueling clubs, with way more of a success in the first three weeks of the schoolyear than any meeting with Lockardt had produced in the last entire year. It was another meeting with the years five and higher and Regulus found himself in good spirits despite the ongoing cat-and-mouse game that the Ministry was holding up with Sirius, Marc's letters with inside information were getting so ridiculous that Regulus was beginning to wonder who was making it up.

 

"Did you and Lockardt ever show them a real duel?" Remus wondered when they stood overseeing the students paired up in small groups to practice their stunners, the ground had been cushioned and Regulus found that the familiar gaggle of four girls had a little bit too much fun with the three boys who had joined them.

"I tried, a few times, he never even managed to dodge my first spell." Regulus deadpanned and Remus facepalmed for a moment before he straightened up again, down below the landing they were watching from, Fred Weasley hit the ground and Samentha Macmillan twirled her wand in victory.

 

"Do you _want_ to go a round?" Remus asked and Regulus turned to look at him, an eyebrow raised in question, "You know how I fight, I know a bit about how you prefer to fight, we both respect the rules of dueling, so why not?" Regulus sent a look down to the students, "Come on, I never got to fight against you."

"Are you complaining that I was off limits to you during our school time or are you complaining that you never got to fight against Death Eater me after you graduated?" Regulus wanted to know in half exasperation but already slipped his wand from within his robes.

 

Funnily enough he had dressed in his favourite green tonight and Remus was wearing a red sweater, couldn't become more Slytherin against Gryffindor.

 

"Wouldn't you like to know," Remus teased and then whistled before Regulus could counter anything to that, the students stopped and helped each other up again. "Settle around the dueling stage. Professor Black and I would like to show you something more advanced." Regulus snorted and took off his cloak, hanging it over the railing of the landing before he followed Remus down.

 

They took their sides, climbed up on the dueling stage and went through the whole bowing to each other routine that Regulus always found a little bit ridiculous but decorum was sometimes necessary. He felt a bit giddy as they readied themselves, Remus was a damn good wizard and a really good fighter who kept his calm about him, those kind of duelists were more difficult to take down then hotheads like Sirius or James Potter had been. Regulus had his own experiences in practice duels, Barty had been impatient at the best of times where it concerned fighting, Evan had moved first but also thought ahead and acted strategically.

 

"We're both much used to non-verbal spells and we'll show you a duel with those first," Remus explained and Regulus nodded in understanding, non-verbal spells were something you learned from sixth year on but he also knew that the Fifth years were encouraged to do so as well already, "Later we'll make it a little easier to follow but keep in mind that if you go into law enforcement you will not always be confronted with opponents who speak their curses."

 

They nodded at each other then and Regulus waited a short moment before he got going, he was not going to pass this chance up of getting to hex Remus Lupin.

 

Regulus hit the ground laughing after a good fifteen minutes, having been felled by a stunner whose effect he had been able to block but not the momentum, some of the Gryffindors cheered and Cedric Diggory offered Regulus his wand back once he was standing.

 

"Very good finish," Regulus called over to Remus who grinned back at him, it had truly been fun and he was also glad that he had never gotten at the wrong ends of the Marauders' wands, as Sirius' little brother he had always been strictly off limits, even as a Slytherin, even to James Potter who had instead gotten physical on brooms. "Now, as your Professors take a little break to catch their breaths, how about we get a few volunteers up on that stage? Maybe two duos to show some coordination?" Regulus let his gaze travel to the group standing at the side of him, as expected Samentha had her hand raised, as had the twins behind her but Regulus raised his eyebrow at another part of their clique.

 

Sarena and Julienna stared back at him while Remus already picked two Sixth Years from Gryffindors, Regulus knew those two had an even more incredible understanding of each other than Sirius and bloody Potter had back in the day. The girls exchanged a look and then took the hands that Cedric Diggory offered to help them up the stage.

 

"You want us to fight against girls?" Ryan Thompson called out in surprise and Regulus rolled his eyes with his back turned on them.

"Oi, watch it, Thompson," Marcus Flint yelled back before either girl could protest on their own, "You don't want to get on Rosier's bad side."

 

"Kick their asses," Regulus whispered to both girls still and then jumped down from the stage, letting them get settled.

"Wanna take a bet, Professor?" George Weasley – Regulus hoped it was him – wanted to know and Regulus sent him a look at the same time as Samentha hissed at him to 'cut it out'. Way too much reminding him of the Prewett twins, way too much.

 

"I don't need to take bets to know that Sarena and Julienna are fully capable of coming out on top of this," Regulus noted easily, Julienna fought like her mother, quick and a tad bit unforgiving if in a mood, she struck before her opponent had finished their thought process, and she was more skilled in fighting than any of the Greengrass blood that Regulus knew, those suspicions of him kept on getting new fodder. And Sarena fought like Evan, and she clearly had been thrown into a prissy mood right now, just this side of vicious, next curse on her lips before the first had even been finished spoken out loud.

 

Once the decorum part was over, Remus gave the whistle to start them off and the girls were moving before the one year older boys from Gryffindor had even finished blinking.

 

"Pay up!" Samentha and Cedric cheered in George's direction when Ryan Thomspon was flown off the stage and into a stack of pillows, his friend following him a mere minute later. Regulus grinned and looked over to Remus, wanted to flaunt his pride a little but Remus was watching Julienna with a strange look in his eyes.

 

\--

 

Three weeks and two days.

 

That was this year's timeframe until Regulus found himself ultimately caught yelping loudly as he was caught completely unaware and catapulted feet first towards the vaulted ceilings of a side corridor on the third floor. The only thing making this only slightly hysterical was Remus suffering the same exact fate right next to them, the papers he had been holding flying all over the place.

 

Regulus cursed in French and twisted around as much as he could, flicking away his cloak that hung down to the ground from his neck and kept on flying in his face. Remus was almost howling with laughter and Regulus flapped a hand at him, "Why are you laughing? We're hanging from the damn ceiling!" And his wand had slipped from the loose playing grasp he had had on it while Remus and him had talked as they walked down the corridor, it was now lying right below him, right next to Remus', "Stop laughing, you idiot! This is so childish!"

 

"This is so Marauderish," Remus corrected and Regulus narrowed his eyes at him, "Fifth Year, third week in, was about as long as I could keep James and Sirius on the straight and narrow and Peter from getting bored and edging them on. We hit nearly the entire group of Slytherin Third Years."

 

"Did you just say 'we'?" A voice came from below them as two boys stumbled out from an hidden alcove, Regulus crossed his arms over his chest as Fred and George grinned up at Remus with huge curious eyes, "'We' as in the Marauders?"

"I can't believe this is happening to me," Regulus whispered to himself and then glared at the Weasley twins and even harder at the girls walking into the corridor behind them, "Seriously?" He demanded to know and at least Sarena and Theresa had the sense to look sheepish, "Are you kidding me right now? Since when are you striving for a career in pranks?"

 

"It wasn't meant to hit you...Professor," Julienna apologized but she was grinning so hard that Regulus had the sudden fantastical thought that Adrienna might have set her up for this to get Regulus to relax from self-imposed stress. "We were meaning to get..." her explanation was cut short when Sarena elbowed her hard in the side and clamped a hand over her mouth.

"Independent of intended targets," Regulus grumbled and blew a strand of hair out of his face, he needed to have it cut again, "Can we please get us down now?"

 

"Yeah," one of the twins began and crossed his arms behind his back, "We don't really," and his twin took over, "have the counterspell," and once more a switch, "We didn't find that," and back again, "in Filch's prankster catalogue." Remus burst out laughing all over again and Regulus was beginning to get a headache.

 

"I'm going to kill you, Remus!"

 

"Oh, this is marvellous," Minerva chuckled in pure joy as she stepped into the corridor, Regulus had to twist to see her approach, her eyes were laughing, she was actually smiling, "Oh, that I ever see the day, this takes years off my bones." She placed herself next to the six students, "How does it feel Remus, to be on this side of the whole show?"

"You think we didn't try our spells on each other first?" Remus was still laughing, completely enjoying himself, "We would have never endangered our fellow students like that."

 

"As entertaining as this conversation is, you can still continue your Marauder time reminiscence when we're all standing on two feet again. Minerva, would you please?" Regulus asked as nicely as he could while caught in a teenage deja vue because now he remembered walking in on some shrieking Slytherin Third Years hung up like bats on the ceiling. Minerva sighed and swung her wand, Regulus and Remus flipped and then slowly levitated to the ground, picking up their wands again.

 

Once he got himself in order again, Regulus huffed and shook his head but then he was smiling, too, "You know, I spent six years at school with you and the others," he turned towards Remus, "Six years, and not once did I stumble into one of your stupid pranks, but you're three weeks back at Hogwarts and I'm hanging from the bloody ceiling." Remus smirked at him and the teenagers all used angelic little fake smiles.

 

"I'm sure you're gonna come up with some creative punishments," Minerva said and then walked away again, Regulus knew she had class to get to, he chased the girls off for Ancient Runes but ordered them into his office for later.

"Come on, boys, we can have a little talk in my office," Remus led the twins away, a swish of his wand bringing his papers back into his arms, "And then we'll talk about some detention."

 

"Do punish them though. Something fun is no detention!" Regulus called after them and then turned to find the caretaker, someone needed to talk to Filch about locking his damn office more safely.

 

\--

 

"Reg, you got a minute?"

 

He looked up when Remus knocked on the open door of the teacher's lounge where Regulus sometimes spent his lunch breaks to have a quiet minute to himself where no students were coming along with questions and complaints.

 

"Sure, did something happen?" He wanted to know, Remus grimaced and kicked the door shut on his way over, taking a seat at the table next to Regulus who lowered his book.

"You could say so," Remus began a little cryptically and Regulus set the book down on the table, Remus sighed and then explained, "I let the Third Years at the boggarts today, and overall it went quite well. You had your usual stuff, spiders, clowns, snakes but you also had your non-usual stuff."

 

"Ah, Potter?" Regulus guessed, cringing when trying to imagine what the boy's boggart could be after all these traumatic experiences the kid had gone through in his short thirteen years.

"No," Remus surprised him though, "I stopped Harry, it's gonna be a conversation I still have to have with him, but I couldn't risk it turning into Voldemort. I wasn't ready to see that and I doubt I could have kept the children calm. No, it was Neville actually, who made my blood run cold."

 

"Neville?" Regulus wondered out loud, "What could Neville be...oh," he stopped, freezing in place for a few seconds and then flinching, "Oh, Merlin, that must have been...fun." Closing his eyes, Regulus took a deep breath before opening them again, "Did Neville know who she was?"

"Yeah, was quite rattled by it. I got him to imagine her in something pinkish and frilly and hilarious looking but he left still quite shaken and I think it...it might be good if _you_ talked to him."

 

"Why me?"

 

"Because you were terrified of her once and you broke out of it. There is no one better, Reg." Remus clarified his reasoning and Regulus sighed in non-wordly agreement, "And I need to find Harry for a conversation anyway, the last thing I want is for the boy to think I find him weak."

 

\--

 

Regulus waited until the afternoon classes were well over before he followed Pomona's helpful advice and sought out the glasshouses. As someone who had never had an affinity for living plants and their care-taking, the glasshouses had never really interested Regulus and he had only paid attention in Herbology because it had been beneficial for Potions.

 

And because Marc as a teenager had been more passionate about plants than girls and that had been hilarious.

 

He greeted some Hufflepuff Fifth Years who were looking after some flowers outside the second glasshouse as he made his way past, checked in on the Slytherin Second Years who were enduring a punishment in form of cleaning out greenhouse number three and then finally found the Longbottom boy at the very far back of the last and smallest greenhouse.

 

"I'd be very careful," he spoke up the second the door had been closed behind him, he hadn't wanted to spook the boy with sneaking up on him, as expected Neville Longbottom jumped but Regulus simply chose to ignore acknowledging it and went on, "I lost my Ancient Runes book to one of them in my fourth year, nasty little fellas." Regulus knew he has successfully broken the ice when Neville went back to petting the devious plant creature whose name Regulus had completely forgotten.

 

Somewhere in Wales Marc surely found his eye twitching right then.

 

"They don't like impatience," the boy even talked all on his own, "Professor Sprout told me they might even sense it and act accordingly. I've never had trouble with them." And then the kid actually looked up and directly into Regulus' face who had slowly walked closer until he could lean back against a table maybe five feet from Longbottom, thankfully not against anything limb-threatening. "I think I know why you're here, Professor."

 

"You do?" Regulus asked him, relaxing himself, actively working on letting himself appear less threatening, it must have been working because Neville focused back on the plant nearly purring beneath his hands. Regulus had never truly personally known the boy's parents, Frank Longbottom had been more than two years older and his future wife Alice the same year as Sirius and his bundle of friends.

 

The closest he had ever come to interacting with the tall proud Gryffindor and his quiet then girlfriend had been during Prefect's meetings. That much interaction made it still easy for him though to realize that Neville came more after his gentle mother than his father who had shone as bright within his house as Regulus' brother and James Potter had. Even in appearance Neville was more his mother than his father but he also still had a lot of time to grow, Regulus only knew so well what late growth spurts could give you.

 

"She's your cousin, isn't she, Professor?" Neville braved himself through posing his question and Regulus waited until those cautious eyes were on him again. Like Potter and his friends, Neville had started to look differently at Regulus with the start of this year as well, though contrary to the trio Neville had since doubled back on it a bit, and Regulus only now with the boggart had made the connection that it was less due to Sirius and more due to his other unpleasant relatives.

 

"She is indeed. Believe me though, Mister Longbottom, if I could I'd wipe that fact out of existence, I'd do in a heartbeat. Bellatrix," the boy twitched and Regulus grimaced, "She is a terrible terrible human being, and I wish her nothing more than to rot for what she has done." He was not going to even think about Barty's involvment in it all, the man you joined Bellatrix in torturing the Longbottoms had not been Regulus' friend anymore.

"Sir, you," Neville began and then obviously bit down on his lip, he let go of the plant and then turned around to face Regulus more openly, "You were one of them, too, weren't you?"

 

Regulus nodded, easily, it had never been a secret and he had never made any efforts to conceal the faded mark on his arm. He stood by his mistakes and he knew what the mark meant to every Slytherin student, that he had survived something that was said to not be survivable.

 

It showed that he had gotten out and still made something of himself.

 

"I was, what feels like a long time ago. I was a stupid too proud kid who got influenced by gruesome people, Bellatrix being one of them." He answered Neville honestly, not wanting to treat the boy with kid gloves, Remus already did that enough, in Remus' defense though he had known Alice and Frank Longbottom closer. The boy was braver than he looked like to many people, "She did inhumane acts long before she even was off age but even among those what she did to your parents stands out in its cruelty. And I am deeply sorry that I have to say a former part of my family had her hand in it, was the mastermind behind it. Bellatrix deserves every single breath of torture and suffering she is suffocating under in Askaban."

 

"Did you know...what had been planned with my parents?"

 

"No," Regulus clarified, eyes beering maybe a little too hard down on the thirteen year old, "No, I didn't know, Mister Longbottom. At the time of my disappearance, your parents had faced Voldemort," Regulus ignored the twitch that went through the boy, "only once, they weren't considered anything too threatening by him yet." Neville nodded, the magical world knew the story of Regulus Black who had appeared out of seemingly nowhere two years after being declared dead. "Why are you so afraid of her, Neville? Bellatrix Lestrange is safely locked away behind the walls and dementors of Askaban."

 

"Your brother escaped," Neville blurted out, seemingly not having wanted to, lips got bitten immediately after, "Who says someone else won't be able to as well." Regulus frowned for a short moment, kids that age weren't supposed to be so scared of possibilities.

"My brother is way more intelligent than Bellatrix could ever dream of being, Neville. Whatever he has done to manage a successful break-out, it will not be copied, and certainly not by her. The Ministry has raised the security measures in Askaban, Aurors are investigating the wards, the guards and the building itself. There is nothing to fear of her anymore, Neville, it is understandable though."

 

Neville shuffled his feet, obviously shifting his thoughts around and Regulus gave him the time he needed, he had some grading work left to do but he could just hand over his appointment with Gringotts to Kreacher this weekend and instead grade the essays then.

 

"I didn't mean for the boggart to turn into her..." Neville stuttered out before he caught himself halfway through, and Regulus bit back that no one ever meant for the boggart to turn into anything, he had learned that the hard way in his sixth year. Maybe Remus was the one exeption, but the guy was too controlled at everything anyway. "Just with all this talk about Black and Death Eaters and the war..."

 

"Don't need to justify yourself to me, Neville. I understand only too well, Bellatrix was my boggart, too, once, and back then I was older than you even. And if you can spare me some minutes and offer me a skillfull hand with the aconite down by the lake, I can tell you how I stopped being scared of her." Regulus proposed and the Gryffindor's eyes hesitated only for a brief split of a second before he nodded. "Alright then, come right along, we'll need some gloves."

 

\--

 

As October progressed, the Prophet began to print rumored sightings of Sirius.

 

Regulus found them barely believable and just words of people vying for attention.

 

Until they edged closer and closer to Hogwarts.

 

\--

 

The first Hogsmeade Weekend came around and Regulus and Remus were quite glad Harry wouldn't be allowed to come along, as much as it sucked from a student's perspective but it settled their worries while they met up with Marc outside the village.

 

"It is strange that it scares me less now where I know the truth?" Marc quipped when they walked up to him on the clearing that oversaw the Shrieking Shack behind the fence, Remus gave him a deadpanned stare and then lightly shoved him into going while Regulus only rolled his eyes.

 

A path led away from the clearing, deeper into the forest that bordered Hogsmeade on this side, Marc and Regulus knew it just as well as Remus did, if for completely different reasons. They had stolen away on Hogsmeade weekends to breathe, to get away from the suffocating weight hanging over their heads, from the expectations everyone kept on loading onto them.

 

Together with Evan and Barty, and sometimes even Adrienna – if it hadn't rained or snowed in at least a week – they had found comfortable places to sit and talk, to read and doze off without anyone judging. And now, Adrienna was free to travel finally for the first time in her life, Evan was still dead, Barty still imprisoned and Regulus and Marc were following a Marauder to find potential hide-outs for Regulus' crazed brother.

 

This life just kept on upping its note of craziness.

 

Regulus kept silent while Remus and Marc took up a conversation as they nearly hiked through the nature paths, ears and eyes open for any signs.

 

"It's insanity," Marc was muttering just as they passed by an old oak tree that Regulus smiled at a little absentmindedly, Evan had spent half an hour hanging down from the branches once because he had insulted Adrienna's shoes. "A whole train, can you believe it? How he thought he could drag that under the rug is a puzzle for me. Small mishaps, no one would have batted an eye over it, but a whole train filled with muggles vanishing? Not even being the Ministry's nephew can save you from punishment there."

 

"He didn't go to school with us, did he?" Regulus heard Remus ask while he looked over broken twigs on the ground and wondered if wildlife or murderous brother.

"No, he started Hogwarts in 1980 if I'm not wrong. Reg would have had him for a few years. Spoilt brat, I've met him on the few political galas my parents talked me into these last years. Can't differentiate between Sarcasm and Buttering-Up but Fudge hails him as the brightest wizard the family has had in ages." Marc would roll his eyes so much while his voice dripped with distain, Regulus couldn't even remember Rufus Fudge.

 

"Says a lot about the family." Remus chuckled and deadpanned at the same time and Marc laughed, both of them walking ahead, Regulus a few steps behind them, looking around and up, couldn't shake the feeling that he had to see something out of place.

"You have no idea." Marc snickered, "I grew up with priviliges, too, but I think I turned out alright, and look what friends I had surrounding me." He joked, Regulus snatched up a fir cone and nailed him straight in the back of the head.

 

"I'm still here, Marc."

 

"I hope those muggles are alright," Remus spoke up before Marc could get revenge – Regulus was actually glad, don't ever start a fight and use nature with Marculus Selwyn, you'll only regret it – and then continued as they climbed over a fallen tree, "I can't imagine what kind of memory altering spell ordeal that had to be."

"According to my father," Marc began and for a moment sounded so much like Draco that Regulus had to bite his tongue to keep from commenting on it, "there is some talking within the Ministry's higher ranks that Fudge might soon kick it if Sirius isn't found. It's been one embarassment after the other. Silvan Rosier is the loudest, the old man is letting them all know he isn't dead yet, and Reg's articles are stirring up a lot of noise."

 

Regulus cringed, as much as he loved the reactions and how well it had been received by the majority, the whole noise aspect of it was a bit awkward.

 

"You think Silvan Rosier might have a chance to push Fudge off?" Remus wanted to know in real curiosity and though Regulus kept half his focus on them, he also touched some marks on a tree. Wildlife, Remus' last weekend or murderous brother?

"I know what you must be thinking," Marc said in a placating tone, managing to not sound pretentious while handling politics for once, he was a relaxed good guy but sometimes his upbringing still showed, "but old man Rosier always condemned Evan and his brothers for their choices, he's furious with the decisions his grandson is making and so proud of Sarena in her quiet rebellion against the elitist's ways. Silvan is a traditionalist, he is old blood but he shares Reg's views. He'd want unity and support for each other instead of fighting each other over some stupid blood rules."

 

"What's that over there?" Regulus broke through their gossiping over politics, of course it was interesting and Regulus would welcome nothing more than Fudge being replaced by someone more capable but they had come here for a reason. He pointed over to a rocky hill formation with what looked like a cave entrance.

 

The thought sent a chill down his back but he wasn't alone and this wasn't some cliff at the coast.

 

It looked like a good hideout from the outside.

 

Only question: Wildlife or murderous brother?

 

\--

 

"Do you know this place?" Marc wanted to know as the three of them climbed up the rocky path that led straight to the cave's entrance, Regulus and Remus both answered in the negative and Marc snorted, "I meant Remus but it's nice to know that you've kept away from caves, Reg."

"Not that I'm aware," Remus answered before Regulus could turn his glare into insult, "I can't rule out that the wolf decided caves were interesting, I have no memories of my transformations from back then. I couldn't say no to James and Sirius knowing this place though, they always..." Remus stopped himself and Regulus wondered if the memory was painful, "We didn't spent all of our Hogsmeade weekends together, we weren't actually attached by the hips and James and Sirius liked exploring potentially dangerous places more than I did."

 

"Yeah, I know that feeling well," Marc deadpanned and threw a look to Regulus over his shoulder that Regulus scoffed at him for.

"Can we please stop it with the cave hints," he grumbled and Marc threw out his hands in response just as he reached small plateau with the cave entrance. It wasn't big or very deep, now where the sun was standing just right one could faintly see the back of it, Regulus' pulse calmed down again.

 

This was completely different. Small cave. No rushing waters, no crashing waves, no stormy winds.

 

And he wasn't alone.

 

This was different.

 

They illuminated their wands and stepped inside, looking over the ground and the back of the cave but there was nothing out of the ordinary to be seen, and certainly nothing that could point towards a fugitive holing himself up in his little hide-out.

 

"I'm not sure if this brings me relief or frustration," Remus sighed when they stepped outside again, a hand got dragged through sandy blond hair. "I am relieved we don't have proof of Sirius being so close to Hogwarts but once again we have nothing."

"Do we even know for sure that Black would come here?" Marc wanted to know when Remus kicked at a few loose stones and Regulus sighed at the sun, "I know he's supposed to be deranged but even he has to realize that he can't get to Potter. Or is there anything you two haven't been telling me because I am giving you all I can get from within the Ministry."

 

Regulus shook his head, leaning back against the rocky wall, putting his wand away and staring hard at his feet, trying to think. He was so sure that Sirius would come to Hogwarts, to finish what he had started as terrible as it might sound. Of the people he might be after, both were in Hogwarts, maybe three if he had by now somehow learned that Regulus was alive.

 

The Ministry was sure Sirius was coming to Hogwarts. Dumbledore was sure he was coming to Hogwarts.

 

So why no sign of him anywhere in the area?

 

He had no wand, he couldn't apparate and even if he had stolen one, he wouldn't be able to apparate onto Hogwarts grounds. He would have to slip inside from around it, near impossible with the Dementors patrolling the borderline.

 

"Sirius is an Animagus."

 

Or he'll use that.

 

"WHAT?"

 


	6. Act I - A Brother's Return - Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: A Season of Reveals**

 

In the direct aftermath of Remus' shocking revelation about Sirius, it was Marc who asked questions as they walked back into the village while Regulus was too busy stuck in his own mind. His emotions were going haywire and he couldn't decide what he was feeling, let alone what he should be feeling.

 

Sirius was an Animagus.

 

And according to the first explanation that had tumbled past Remus' lips, Regulus' brother had been able to turn into a dog since his Fifth Year. Sirius had still lived at home then, he had slept right across the corridor from Regulus in those holidays, practicing difficult transfiguration spells in the night, maybe even under his bed covers.

 

He had tested out difficult magic to help his friend while Regulus had cried himself to sleep over the suffocating pressure that was coming in from all sides.

 

And all the mysteries it suddenly solved, all the times that the Marauders had seemed to make the impossible happen, all the times that the Marauders, especially Potter and Sirius, had managed to escape situations later in the war that had looked like dead ends.

 

Cornered into alleyways that no human would be able to escape from? No trouble when you were a dog.

 

Was Regulus angry? Was he jealous?

 

Was he hurt because once more there was proof that Sirius had put his friends over him?

 

Sirius had taken so much effort to be with Remus during the full moon night, had done something illegal to ease his friend's pain but he had been utterly blind to the pain that Regulus had bend under.

 

"Regulus?"

 

They were back on the outskirts of Hogsmeade and Regulus hadn't felt this much of a desire to avoid the village, the castle and the people in a great many years.

 

"Go ahead," he answered Marc's call of his name but kept his eyes on the Shrieking Shack, couldn't even look in Remus' direction, of course he didn't blame him, not for keeping it secret all these years, Regulus had his own secrets over his friends he was holding close to his heart, and least of all did he blame Remus for being the reason for this stunt in the first place. His full moon night had become easier with company and Regulus could never lay blame to anyone for that.

 

But just...what lengths Sirius had gone to to give even the smallest of comfort to a friend...

 

It hurt.

 

"I'll come along in a bit," he added absentmindedly and could hear how Marc convinced Remus to go into the Three Broomsticks, trust Marc to still see easily when Regulus needed some privacy. When their steps had faded, Regulus wandered back into the forest and over to 'their' tree, no one had ever bothered them here, not even at the height of the war between Slytherin and Gryffindor.

 

He sank down into the space between the old roots and leaned back against the tree with closed eyes, he listened to the distant chatter of birds, it had been louder before but not with the dementors around now.

 

Sirius was an Animagus.

 

Had been since he was fifteen.

 

Was that how he had survived Azkaban? How he had escaped? How he was seemingly moving around so easily now without the Aurors catching up to him?

 

"And we can't tell anyone," Regulus noted in a whisper and dragged a hand down his face, of course they couldn't tell anyone now, it would throw Remus into so much trouble for having kept silent on the topic for so long and Regulus wasn't keen on throwing a friend into Azkaban, or directly to the executioner. He had little enough good friends as it was and Remus was a good man, he hadn't deserved any of the suffering of the last thirteen years and even more, he was the only person Harry Potter had left with a real good connection to his dead parents.

 

Could he tell Dora and ask her to keep mum over it but still use it to catch Sirius?

 

Did Dumbledore already know? The man had always seen everything and not done a thing about it, something that Regulus was not ever going to forgive him. Was this just another thing on the long list?

 

Blowing out a long breath, Regulus looked up into the branches, back when Evan and Barty had climbed these trees it had looked so much easier. Regulus had felt caged in but there had been a clear path, no deviations, no complicated feelings and no mind-numbing revelations. There had been Evan always willing to protect, to defend, to distract.

 

And Regulus also couldn't help but ask himself if his friends would have done something similar for him, would they have done something so life-changing and rule-breaking to bring him comfort? He winced when his mind reminded him just what illegal measures Evan had taken to protect him. Contrary to Evan, Barty had become a Death Eater along with him, not for him, and as far as Regulus knew both his friends had never regretted it, not like Regulus had. Marc had saved his own neck once the wrong decisions had been made and Regulus was truly glad he had done so, that he had had the strength to say no.

 

On a spur of the moment decision that he rarely showed, Regulus disapparated.

 

\--

 

The graveyard laid silent when he appeared behind a tree, quickly drawing his cloak tighter around himself against the wind, Regulus walked a familiar path. This was a wizarding graveyard, old blood, old names, situated in the far North of Reading, all muggles would be able to see was an abandoned factory ground now, the spells having been updated with the changing of times.

 

Centuries of purebloods had been buried here, Regulus would only need to look a bit to the left to find his own family's mausoleum where the ashes of his ancestors were kept, where he himself had had an empty coffin and a graveplate removed upon his return to the living. It wasn't his goal now though, that goal was a rather simple black gravestone in the east corner of the graveyard.

 

Silvan Rosier had decreed that his youngest son was not to be buried among the family in the Rosier mausoleum, instead Evan had gotten a grave right outside of it, close by but not among them, punishment for the shame he had brought over their blood by becoming a Death Eater. There was a small bundle of wildflowers standing in a vase in front of the stone, Sarena's metaphorical handwriting basically upon it, she believed in redemption after death, a thought that Regulus wanted to follow as well, that there was hope left for people in the afterlife still, even if they hadn't been truly good people in their lives. Not at all times anyway.

 

"I'm sorry," Regulus said as he crouched down by the stone's side, a pathetic greeting if there ever was one, "I'm sorry that I left. I'm sorry that I never said anything. I'm sorry that I left you alone and didn't think once about coming back for you. I know you would have listened, maybe not Barty, but you would have at least listened to me, and maybe you would have agreed, maybe you were scared, too, so I'm sorry. Stevan slipped from my fingers, he is too much like his father but I promise you I'll keep Sarena out of that world, Adri's daughters, too. They will never go through what we did."

 

He spent maybe twenty more minutes talking to an old friend who would never answer him anymore but then he walked away again, made only a small detour to the Black mausoleum before he reached the apparation point to get back to Marc, Remus and a Firewhiskey to burn the chaos in his head away.

 

The torches lit up as he stepped down the three steps and walked past old names of men and women who had once carried the name Black, as much as he had reestablished the tapestry at home, he had left people buried where they were, didn't want to force them into being surrounded by people who had hated them. He walked right up to his father's plate, his old man had died only a few weeks before Regulus had gone into the cave, "You should have been there. You should have been there for both of us, listened to our worries, listened to our fears, you should have plain listened to us. You should have been a father, not just a man sitting behind a desk, but I'll find my happiness. I'll be a father, even without truly knowing how it felt to have one."

 

Remus and Marc both smiled when Regulus joined them at a table on the second level of the Three Broomsticks, away from the chattering and laughing students.

"There is something I've been thinking about," he started, letting looks and tone explain on their own that the Animagus thing wouldn't be a problem, "So far we have two horcruxes, both of which held a personel connection to Riddle."

 

"You think that's the theme behind it?" Marc guessed and Regulus nodded, throwing Remus and Marc into a discussion over Riddle's origins again.

 

They would catch Sirius and he'd be back in Azkaban soon enough, then they could leave all of this mess behind them and go back to the good things in life. As well as hunting for dark artifacts and horcruxes.

 

\--

 

"You can't leave."

 

"Miss Greengrass..."

 

"You can absolutely not leave for even an hour!"

 

"Julienna, you're not my mother, nor are you your mother who has frighteningly enough managed to comment on my sleeping habits while she is hundred of miles away in some country whose name I've forgotten." Regulus pointed out in a suffering tone while Julienna strained to keep up with his long steps as they were walking through the corridors.

"She's in Belarus right now," Julienna corrected and Regulus rolled his eyes, taking another right, "but seriously, you can't leave, just look at what happened the last three years on Halloween."

 

"Julienna, don't turn coincidences into a pattern," he reminded her and then stopped her outside the Defense corridor because he knew the other girls were outside by the lake and she would have a direct path from here to join them, "As it stands, I wasn't planning on leaving anyway. Olivia's gone with Jack to see some distant aunt she can't stand but who is turning eighty and apparently muggles like to celebrate high round numbers very extensively. I'm staying at Hogwarts this Halloween."

 

Her pouting turned into a bright grin but Regulus raised a finger to warn her in making the wrong assumptions, he was not bending to her begging, there was a difference.

 

"Go now, join the others, and come to my office after dinner about that other topic, and we'll talk some more about it. Ask Theresa and Sarena to come along." Regulus told her with a gentle squeeze of her shoulder and Julienna nodded before taking off. He watched after her for a moment, thought back to the news she had given him, the reason she had sought him out in the first place, he didn't like what it implied, didn't like it at all.

 

One thing after the other though.

 

Clearing his mind of potential future trouble, he focused back on present trouble and made his way down towards Remus' classroom and office. He could hear voices coming from the half open classroom door as he approached.

 

"Boy, you might be in your mid-thirties now but you still do not get to tell me how I handle my dark creatures or my pets for that matter," it was the voice of an older man who was clearly admonishing someone in a tone that could not possibly be any more fatherly, even if Regulus had only rarely heard his own father speak like that.

"It's not a pet," and that was clearly Remus, fondly annoyed and like that Regulus had a name for the other voice, Lyall Lupin, Remus' father, "It's a creature that for some unexplainable reason had not yet decided to try and kill you. It's not a dog, you can't tame it."

 

"It has better manners than your friends showed sometimes. Eddie is a well-behaving resident on my estate and the pond in the backyard has never looked more beautiful," Lyall Lupin was emphasizing as Regulus reached the doorway, leaning against it he chose to listen in on the free entertainment. Remus was leaning back against the front of his desk while an older version of him was standing in front of a glass cylinder that had been placed next to the blackboard.

 

"You named the kappa after Grandpop Howell?!" Remus was gaping and then slapped a hand over his face, "Pa, you cannot be serious now. It's a bloody dangerous creature."

"Watch that language, son," Lyall noted and turned around to face his son again, "You will take care of this little guy, I expect him to return to me in perfect unblemished condition."

 

"When did I ever not return something in unblemished condition?" Remus wanted to know, his face contorted into confusion, Regulus bit back a smile. Remus' father made a few steps over and waved his pointed finger like a wand. Remus truly was a copy of his father, just a younger and more scarred version, though Lyall Lupin had one running down the side of his face as well.

"You remember that cat we had, the white one that loved your mother so much?" Lyall wanted to know in turn and Remus smiled in fond memory before it turned into a grimace, "aha, so you do remember that weekend your friends came over. That poor cat was never the same."

 

"James never really was a cat-person..."

 

"Fact remains, I want Eddie back with all his limbs and wits attached, and you're responsible for him. I am loaning him to you only, and this school is full of trouble these days. It's worse than in your time, and you went to school with actual Death Eaters," it was a call of fate that both Lupin men just then became aware of their observer and Regulus raised a hand in greeting.

"I can attest to it," he commented with an easy tone that showed them he wasn't insulted in the slightest but Lyall Lupin still looked a bit guilty, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mister Lupin, I've heard interesting stories about you."

 

Lyall Lupin stretched out a hand once Regulus was close enough, he had a tight grip as they shook hands, "The same goes for me, Mister Black, and I must apologize my words meant no harm."

"No harm was taken," Regulus assured him and blinked at the pair of eyes staring from the dark water and plants in the glass tank, "I see you've found another thing to taunt the Third Years with."

"Yes, apparently my father was so kind as to lent me the kappa from his garden who is named after my maternal grandfather," Remus deadpanned, his father only shrugged his shoulders, "What brings you here?"

 

"A group of my Seventh Years went a little too hard to the edge of the grounds in their search for a quiet study spot and of course it was followed by a run-in of the soul-sucking kind. They're fine," Regulus added when Remus pushed himself up straight with widened eyes, "Little bit shaken up but chocolate and Pomfrey fixed it again. I meant to go to Dumbledore to tell him they've been breeching the border again but he's out so I'm probably gonna write the Ministry directly. But do you think we can let some of the students try their hand at the Patronus in dueling club?"

 

"I think we should, after that Quidditch incident, this is the second time they're ignoring their orders," Remus added deep in thought, his father snorted.

"They're dementors. I should hope you two are not fooling yourselves like the Ministry is, they cannot be ordered. In the end they do what they see fit to," Lyall seemed to speak from experience, Regulus couldn't recall what the man had been working as before his chosen voluntary retirement but he did still recall that he had been an expert on dark creatures. Remus had mentioned often over the last years that his old department still kept calling him in for advice, "I truly believe it would be a good idea to teach the kids the Patronus, maybe you'll only get a few to manage one but that still means more protection for them if the dementors do forget themselves. Now, don't let me keep you two, I did want to greet Minerva still."

 

"Don't forget we're going for dinner in Hogsmeade, Pa."

 

Lyall waved as he walked out of the classroom and Regulus laughed when Remus sank down on his chair behind his classroom desk with a groan.

 

"Do I have any chance of convincing you to come along? I cannot go through another hour of him repeating I need a woman in my life," Remus sighed and Regulus hummed in thought, even if nothing sounded more tempting because it meant having an excuse to evade Julienna and her begging eyes over something new coming to her mind now where Regulus was staying at the school over Halloween.

 

"I'll come along."

 

\--

 

In light of new information, Regulus reached out towards Silvan Rosier, Evan's father and an influential figure within the pureblood community who had never made a secret out of his dislike over the more radical figures in their community. He had pushed his older sons away and tried until the last day to get into the stubborn head of his youngest and now Regulus held the hope that Sarena's grandfather might take a stand alongside him.

 

He wrote another article for the Prophet that centered a lot around his experiences as a Sacred-Twenty-Eight heir and the suffocating pressure that came with it but it also included a hidden warning at the new generation to start thinking for themselves and not just the images of their family name. 'You are more than a name,' he finished the article and then send it off with one of the school owls.

 

It left him just enough time to relieve some Slytherins from cauldron scrubbing detention, answer some questions from students in the library and then hurry down to Hogsmeade to meet with the person whose head he liked to get into and see reason.

 

Adrienna was waiting for him at a table in the back of the Three Broomsticks and Regulus was happy that had found a Saturday without the Hogwarts students having Hogsmeade leave, it kept the pub wonderfully empty at this still rather early time of day.

"You're not still angry because of that prank, right?" Adrienna began their conversation with a chuckle and Regulus scowled at her, "Because if you asked me here to complain about a prank you stumbled into that wasn't even meant to hit you than I'm gonna call you a baby and send you to bed early without your supper." Regulus rolled his eyes, the girls and guilt didn't mix well together and they had held out three days before they had broken and apologized and explained their real target. The twins didn't have that problem but they also didn't care because they had a real Marauder around now whose brain they could pick.

 

"I didn't call you here to talk about pranks, I called you here to talk about your husband," Regulus got down straight to the point and Adrienna clamped her lips shut and thinned them into one line. "Specifically because your husband is scaring your girls with cryptic letters and vanishing to secret meetings. And judging now by your face, you didn't know about that," Regulus changed course in the end when Adrienna's face had paled and her eyes had widened slightly.

 

"No, I was quite happy getting a taste of foreign air these last weeks," Adrienna sighed and dragged a hand down her face before she nestled them together on the table, "I finally had the chance to travel and I couldn't pass it by. I had no idea that he has been reaching out to the girls, he has never been interested before. They were pretty, well-mannered and made no problems, more he didn't care about, that was my job."

 

"And the secret meetings? What is that all about?" He wondered and Adrienna threw a look around them but no one way paying them any mind, the only other customers were two witches sitting at the bar who were talking with Madam Rosmerta, the landlady herself was polishing silverware.

"I would love to say it's nothing but even with how little I have been home lately, I just know that it's nothing good. I know he's congregating with the old crowd again. They've mostly been meeting at Malfoy Manor, I know that because Narcissa keeps on sending me invitations for tea but I have no intention for that." With every word of Adrienna's explanation Regulus could feel the ice building in his veins, anger over Narcissa continued chosen ignorance, and true anger over people trying once more to plan to ruin their children's future.

 

He also saw a chance to dig into a topic that he had kept on wondering about whenever he caught Remus frowning in slight confusion at Julienna.

 

"Does your reluctance to join into your usual charity circles and your sudden hunt for old european cities have anything to do with Julienna's origin?" He asked quite bluntly and then hissed when Adrienna snapped out a hand and dug her fingernails into his arm through his sleeve, right into the faded dark mark. She leaned closer and Regulus saw the naked panic in her eyes and still he pushed on because if he was right then Adrienna and her girls were in much greater danger than he had previously thought, "Come on, Adri. Don't keep me for a fool. The only thing the girls have in common is your nose and your wit, strangers wouldn't think they were sisters. Laureen looks like a copy of your mother-in-law, may she rest in eternal suffering the old bat, but Julienna? Come on, Adri."

 

"Julienna comes after my side of the family."

 

"Adri, stop lying to me. The Greengrass might believe that, your husband might believe that but they don't know your side of the family. They only ever cared about the name, not the people," Regulus reminded her and then took her hands into his, squeezed them gently, "Adri, you know you can trust me. I want nothing more than for Julie to be safe and happy. I'll protect you, all three of you if you want me to."

 

How bad could it be?

 

The pureblood society was already quite intermarried, it wasn't like an affair never happened. People just kept their mouths shut about it until they died, especially if children resulted from it.

 

And still, Adrienna's husband was not his father's heir, he had two older brothers, both of whom had children and the middle one among them had two sons. The legacy was safe, the name would not die out, duty done, everyone happy.

 

"You have to promise me that you won't tell anyone, especially not Julie, this is too risky. Well, you can tell Marc, I don't want to start having secrets again, he'll only understand that wrong," Adrienna grumbled a bit and then lowered her voice even more, "Yes, she's not my husband's child but she can never know, no one can."

"Can I ask who? Otherwise I'm gonna spent the next weeks comparing her face to Death Eaters and sympathisants, " Regulus joked a little to swallow the bitter pill that he had been right, that Adrienna had found love in someone else's arms even after her father had pressured her into a political marriage before she had even been out of school. Adrienna closed her eyes for a brief moment and her face shuttered down, Regulus grimaced, "Please don't tell me it was Evan, I know he had a thing for you even after this clusterfuck of failed dates..."

 

"It's not Evan," Adrienna was quick to objected with his idea, looking up to meet his eyes again, "It wasn't anyone from 'our' side." Regulus stared at her, mind stumped for the moment because there was only ever one guy that had held Adrienna's eye in school and he hadn't been a Slytherin, or a Ravenclaw. He had been as forbidden as forbidden could go, especially once he had graduated and no, oh Merlin, no, "He was an Ordner member."

 

"Julie is..." Regulus croaked out and then burried his face in his hands with a groan, "Oh, this has just gotten more complicated than I had thought. I'm sorry, Adri, I really am, for your loss and you having to carry this secret all this time."

"I loved him," Adrienna said quietly and not without a touch of lingering pain in her voice, "I still do but we both knew right from the start that it could never be. We were in different worlds and I was too afraid to run away back then, to leave behind what I had known all my life. After Hogwarts, I wanted to stop, I wanted to be a good wife but I couldn't let him go. Love makes you do stupid things. I don't regret Julienna, I never did, she is the most precious gift that he could have ever given me. He lives on in her."

 

"Did he know?" Regulus wondered in nearly a whisper, wishing for something a bit more burning in his glass as Adrienna fidgeted, "Did he know he had a daughter before Evan killed him?"

"Yes, he knew. He never got to meet her, it was too dangerous but he knew. And Evan knew, too." Adrienna confirmed and they fell into silence, Regulus found himself thinking of Olivia and Jack and how much he missed them.

 

Back in the castle, Regulus found an answer from Silvan waiting for him and he tried to lose himself in the long letter to forget his friend's sadness and the fear she carried in her heart for her beautiful daughter. He swore he would protect them, they wouldn't get hurt, not when they had people who would fight to keep them safe.

 

\--

 

Running down the corridors, left around the corner, then right, then right again, taking the stairs two or three at a time to get up and up. Left at the end, slittering into a secret passage to buy time and then onto the moving staircase that for once obied and brought them exactly where they needed to go.

 

"Out of the way," Regulus snarled out and students jumped out of the way as Remus and him pushed through to get towards the entry to the Gryffindor common room, Dumbledore and McGonagall were already there, both of them frowning at the portrait that was slashed in several places, the Fat Lady nowhere to be seen. Students were mingling around, confused and shocked and frightened.

 

Regulus squeezed Samentha's shoulder and then gently guided a shaking Neville to the side so he could see better.

 

"Ah, there you two are," Dumbledore greeted them unusually somber and he was glancing about then, "We need to find the Fat Lady to solve this puzzle." Heads began to swivel around and it was one of the Weasley twins who found the guardian of the lions' entrance cowering behind a row of Knights two floors above them.

 

"It was him," she cried out shrill when Dumbledore asked her after the perpetrator of the destroyed portrait, "It was him. Sirius Black!" Students began to talk immediately, frightened and uncomfortable, Regulus caught sight of Harry Potter's white face as he felt his own heart start a racing thumping, sweat breaking out at the back of his neck.

 

He got into the castle.

 

He got so fucking close to Harry.

 

"Prefects, guide the students into the Great Hall, make haste," Dumbledore yelled over the ruckus that nervous students created while Regulus struggled to find the surface in this waking nightmare. He could see how Remus held Percy Weasley back for a moment and told him to not let Harry out of his sight for a second but then the Head Boy rushed down the stairs, shushing students along.

 

Sirius had gotten into the school.

 

He had evaded all traps and precautions and he had gotten into the damn castle.

 

"Albus, what do we do?" Minerva wanted to know when they were alone in the staircase outside the tower, Regulus used Dumbledore's moment of silence to step over to the railing, his hands curled around the stone and he leaned forward. Just breathe, just breathe.

"We'll collect the students into the Great Hall and then keep them there for the evening at least, maybe even the night, please do inform Pomona and Filius. And tell Septima to fetch the Slytherins." Dumbledore decided and as he closed his eyes, Regulus could hear Minerva hurry down the stairs. "Nick, do tell the ghosts we acquire their support in finding our intruder."

 

Gryffindor's House Ghost agreed somewhere off to Regulus' right but he couldn't care because his brother had gotten into Hogwarts unnoticed and he had gotten close enough to Harry Potter to slash the entrance portrait to the Gryffindor common room where Harry had obviously not been but it had been so damn close.

 

And all the other kids who might have only wanted to help a fellow housemate and protect a boy who always got into too much trouble, innocent kids who might just as well become another 'twelve muggle bystanders killed'.

 

"Reg, come on," Remus' hand was on his shoulder then and no matter how steady his voice was his hand was trembling, too, "We're better off keeping an eye on the students than searching the castle in this state."

 

This state.

 

Sirius was in Hogwarts.

 

And there was no way he didn't know by now that Regulus was alive.

 

Regulus Black hated Halloween.

 

\--

 

Somewhere between the staircase and the Great Hall, Regulus pulled himself together and managed to look like a well-put-together teacher who had things under control as he calmly walked into the Great Hall behind Remus and found pandemonium. Remus worked on getting the noise down and Regulus busied himself with vanishing three of the house tables, leaving only the Hufflepuff table at the far left side.

 

He conjured up sleeping bags and pillows and the students quickly enough got the message to settle down and get comfortable, the older ones transfigured some pillows into blankets, showed the younger ones how to or did it for them right away. Regulus called for Dobby and told him to let the house-elves prepare some snacks and something warm and sweet to drink for the kids.

 

And then there was nothing to do anymore.

 

"They'll find him, they'll catch him," Remus told him in a whisper when they were standing off to the side by the doors they had locked now, watching the students huddle together in small groups, talking, some had still carried cards or books with them where they had been still around and about the castle.

"They don't know to look for a dog," Regulus hissed back at him and regretted it just as fast as Remus looked guilty again, "Sorry, just a little pulled tight right now."

 

"Professor?" They looked up when the girl's voice caught their ears and Regulus waved Remus away, let him go off to listen to worries of young minds, he would be better off to soothe them right now than Regulus. He made his way over to the right corner shortly before the teacher's podium began and sat down on the steps, Julienna and Sarena stopped their observation of the game that Theresa, Cedric, Samentha and the Weasley twins were playing.

 

"Is everything okay?"

 

"No," Regulus couldn't even find it in himself to create a lie of comfort and all seven teenagers stopped their doings, turning around to look at him, "No, not everything is okay right now but it will be." He clarified when the looks of unease had him flinch.

"When they catch him?" Cedric guessed and Regulus nodded, a rather unsubtle handwave from Julienna had the others go back to their game though, even Sarena joined in now. Julienna though left their circle and sat down on the steps next to Regulus.

 

"Are you in danger?" Julienna wanted to know and Regulus shook his head, looking over to her, fear in her eyes but stubborness keeping her spine straight.

"No." He could answer her in full conviction though because it was true, even if his brother now knew that Regulus was alive, he was in no danger, he wouldn't let himself be in danger.

"Because he's not here for you?" Julienna wondered and her eyes flickered over to where Harry Potter was sitting among his friends, Remus having sat down with them now, obviously answering some questions, too.

 

"Because I won't let him hurt me. Or anyone." He made his point, softer in his voice than it sounded in his head, he looked down at Julienna, "No one is gonna get hurt." They fell silent then for a good long moment but then Theresa asked them to join the game and Regulus had the decline already on his lips but then chose against it. He could keep an eye on the students while playing a game of cards, it wouldn't distract him from that but it would help in distracting him from the chaos inside his mind.

 

On the other end of the steps leading up the podium, Harry was just then sitting down with Remus, having stepped away from his friends and judging by the way that Remus was smiling and the way that Harry was hanging onto every word of him, Regulus knew what they were talking about.

 

Finally.

 

A little while later, Remus was by now listening to something Harry had been telling him for a while already, Regulus was glad to notice that most students were settled and some, mostly the youngest, had even laid down to try and catch some sleep. Older students moved into groups to talk, casting silencing charms so as not to disturb the others. Regulus laid one over their corner as well, kept mindful to let outside noises be able to filter in.

 

He was just in time for in the next moment there was a crack between Julienna and him and they all flinched, prompting Kreacher to jump in surprise. The elf looked around in confusion, had surely meant to appear at Regulus' side but not expected to have such an audience.

 

"Kreacher!" Julienna was ever so happy to greet him though and wrenched an unsuspecting Kreacher into a hug that Regulus' little friend returned after a few seconds. The others looked a bit surprised, especially the twins and Cedric but Kreacher bowed to Sarena, Samentha and Theresa as well at least and only after some minutes of asking after their well-being did Kreacher remember whom he had come for in the first place.

 

A bit sheepishly Kreacher turned around to Regulus again, "Master, Kreacher has come because Miss Dora got hurt." No bad news ever came in small doses.

"Is it bad?" Regulus wanted to know, throat closing up again already and stomach dropping even lower, Kreacher though shook his head, still glancing around as if he wasn't sure what he was thinking about this situation in the hall.

 

"No, Misstress Andromeda says Miss Dora will be alright again at the end of the week. Miss Dora had a run in with a very nasty sphinx." Kreacher explained and Regulus grimaced, trust Dora to get into mortal danger during a bloody vacation trip. "Miss Dora's friend saved her and brought her to a hospital. Mistress Andromeda has asked if Kreacher can sit on her when Miss Dora comes back to London?"

 

"Sit on her, sit something on her or magically restrain her to the bed," Regulus clarified and Kreacher nodded, "Make sure she gets better, Kreacher. Who was this friend who rescued her?" Kreacher's eyes flickered over to the ginger-haired twins who perked up upon the brief attention before Kreacher looked back to Regulus.

 

"William Weasley, Master."

 

The twins beamed and Regulus was glad to hear it as well, one could rely on Bill Weasley to make sure that Dora would listen to the doctors in Egypt now, even without her scary mother around.

 

"Thank you, Kreacher," Regulus told him and then maybe hoped for a too big miracle when he leaned closer to Kreacher, "Could you go down to the other elves, find Dobby and see if you can help finding out if Sirius is still in the castle?" Kreacher's face gave a hilarious twitch as he went through that information, making sure Sirius could be found would be in his interest but interacting with Dobby was clearly not.

 

Thankfully Julienna jumped for the rescue.

 

"When you're down there, could you maybe tell the elves how to properly make a blueberry pie because yours tastes so much better?" Her question was emphasized with round goldenbrown eyes and Regulus could see Kreacher melt a little, he hid his smile though.

"Kreacher will try his best," his floppy eared best friend told them and then he popped away with a crack.

 

They went back to their card game, fell into a little bit of a Quidditch discussion that Sarena and Theresa fell asleep on and then after the twins had told stories about their trip to Egypt in the summer, Julienna, Samentha and Cedric went to sleep as well. Regulus was left to return to the pair of quiet twins exchanging some looks after he had gone another round around the hall and had an awkward short moment with Harry Potter who apologized for dark looks, looking a strange mix between gleefully happy and quite bedraggled.

 

"Professor?" One of the twins turned to him when Regulus was sitting on the steps again, judging by how the speaking twin did not have a hand in Samentha's hair it had to be Fred, Regulus gave him a nod to go on, "We might have something that could help in finding Sirius Black," it was almost disturbing to hear only one of them speak at a time but George was so close to Samentha that it might be difficult to speak without waking her, "but we didn't really acquire it the legal way, nor do we think it to be quite allowed. We honestly have no idea where it came from or what it truly is."

 

Regulus raised a prompting eyebrow.

 

"It's a map, of the school," Fred continued and Regulus waited patiently for him to go on, "It shows everyone, moving around in the school. We'll give it to you if we're not getting into trouble for it." Regulus held out a hand and Fred reached inside his robes but hesitated until Regulus agreed that yes, they were not gonna get into trouble over it. Fred produced a folded piece of parchment, set his wand to it and spoke  "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

 

Regulus was handed the parchment that just then seemed to come to life, little writing and lines appearing all over it and as he read over the title of it, 'Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs, Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers, are proud to present THE MARAUDER'S MAP,' he could feel something snap in his brain that had his head lurch up and his eyes making out Remus talking to Percy Weasley at the other end of the hall.

 

A magical map of the school tracking everyone's steps and directions.

 

Oh, you had got to be _kidding_ him.

 

"Fred, George," he said as he grabbed the map tight and went to his feet, eyes narrowing in Remus' direction, "You have just solved hundreds of mysteries I encountered in my schooltime, so I thank you for that. If you'd excuse me now, there is something I have to talk over with Professor Lupin. Do keep an eye on the girls for me and I won't breathe a word over how I got this map."

 

"Of course, Professor."

 

Regulus kept his steps quiet but also not slow for sure as he stalked through the hall and then stopped in front of him, he said "Moony?" and held up the map when Remus gaped at him.

 

\--

 

"This feels weird."

 

"What?"

 

"Sneaking through dark corridors with my eyes on the map on the lookout for Sirius Black while Regulus Black is the one on my side."

 

"So you did spy on me?"

 

Regulus stopped, forcing Remus to stop as well because he was holding the illuminated wand that was their only lightsource as Remus' hands were busy with the map.

 

"With well meant intentions," Remus defended himself and Regulus scowled at him, around them portraits complained about the disturbance, "It was before Sixth Year, Sirius was still having hopes to save you. And there wasn't much spying involved, your school days were like clockwork. You were terribly predictable, unless Rosier got involved." Regulus would have taken offense if it wasn't so terribly true, he had been a child of habit, routines drilled into him, it had taken a near death experience to break him out of it.

 

And it hadn't been the cave.

 

"Let's just keep going."

 

It was another night in the weeks since Halloween where they were patrolling the corridors with the Marauder's Map and an ever growing frustration over not finding anything. At least Harry had agreed to be careful now where he knew the whole truth, instead of slinking off to Hogsmeade via the secret passages that the twins had apparently been showing him, Harry now took the time where his friends were down in the village to bury Remus with questions about his parents.

 

When this night brought no results as well, Remus came up with even more traps to set up all over the castle and the grounds and Regulus helped because he had no better ideas either. It was frustrating, it was just plain annoying.

 

Andromeda had heard and seen nothing, Dora and her colleagues were still forced on a wild goose chase over every tip that came in, whether muggle grounded or from one of their own. Kreacher had not reported anything unusual from Grimmaudplace and Dobby's trip to Godric's Hollow had brought them nothing either.

 

They were out of ideas, they were simply out of tricks and ideas, and it felt shattering.

 

It wasn't their duty to catch Sirius, but they both still felt responsible.

 

And yet, when they both were jumping at shadows and seeing things that weren't there, they stopped before they were losing it. They both didn't deal well with paranoia and Regulus didn't want to start finding coping mechanisms now, he just had to trust the aurors and trust in the fact that they seemed to have chased Sirius off from Hogswarts, or at least the castle.

 

Remus gave the map back to the twins with the promise to have access to it and the twins glowed with so much admiration that Regulus regretted agreeing to the idea a little bit but they could also use some laughter right now.

 

\--

 

Christmas had never felt so much like salvation as it did in '93, leaving Hogwarts for the holidays and going back to London meant not only leaving the chaos of an ever unsuccessful hunt for Sirius behind but also the oppressing coldness of the dementors.

 

Kreacher was burrying the living room in baubles and tinsel when Regulus stepped out of the fireplace and right into a face full of mistletoe. On the couch, still looking a little bit peakish, Dora was shifting around in a box of christmas decorations.

"Good afternoon," he called into the round, felt his mood lift and his heart finally fill with the christmas spirit, he stroked a hand over Kreacher's head and then sank onto the couch next to Dora after sending his things up to his room. "Oh, it's so good to be home."

 

He had seen the students who went home off to the Hogwarts Express this morning, had reminded a very unhappy Sarena to reach out to him immediately if something felt too uncomfortable at home (Silvan had told him he would send Sarena out of the house the second he caught wind of any illegal ongoings, didn't want to confront his grandsons or daughter-in-law over anything with his sweet princess around, Regulus had assured him twice that he would give Sarena a safe place at any time.), then he had sent Julienna and Laureen off with a portkey to Italy because snow-obsessed tinsel-loving Adrienna was in the sudden mood for a beach christmas.

 

Someone had a very tough case of freedom overload.

 

Remus was staying behind at Hogwarts, wanted to spent some time with Harry and with Lyall being on some spontaneous trip to Japan to research some kind of bird whose name sounded like a joke, there was no family dinner this year anyway.

 

Regulus would only have two this year. The excitedly and nervously expected one with Olivia's parents and the hopefully non-embarassing one at Tonks Manor.

 

"When are you going back to work?" He wondered out loud while Dora pulled out tiny fairies made from glass and charmed to fly around the tree, she was healed but still exhausted, the sphinx had really pulled a number on her.

"Not until after the holidays. Kingsley isn't sure anyway if I should continue to investigate in Sirius' case, they're frowning a little over the personal connection now," Dora told him and handed Kreacher the fairies.

 

"Personal connection?" Regulus asked in confusion, "He's your mother's cousin whom she hasn't had any contact to in over twelve years now. If that's to close for them, you shouldn't be allowed to investigate any pureblood cases. You're half a Black, and we're married to half the pureblood society." Regulus pointed out and Dora sent him a look that showed her feelings about it quite well. "You got all presents yet?"

 

"No, not yet. Got Mum, Dad, Nana, Pops and you covered." Dora listed down and sent a little christmas hat figurine up onto the fireplace mantel, "My friends and I got our usual system down, but I still wanna pick something special for Bill, he deserves a bigger thanks this year." As far as Regulus was concerned Bill Weasley deserved a medal. "And I definitely need something for your girl and her little boy still. You'll tell them about magic before you come to us, right?"

 

"Yeah," Regulus agreed, heart warming at the thought that Dora wanted to get them presents, he had let Olivia propose something he could get her parents, it was less nerve-wracking like that, "It's easier like this, means Andy can go all out with her decorations."

"The singing reindeers still scare the crap out of me," Dora grumbled and Regulus agreed, last year when they had met up outside the Ministry to apparate over together, they had ended up hexing the damn things in their shock.

 

"We can go together then, I still need some things for your parents. And Marc, which I am still utterly clueless about," Remus and him had exchanged books already, so easy, he had sent Julienna and Laureen off with a bag of presents for them and their mother that wouldn't open until christmas morning no matter how many spells they would use and he had been set for Olivia and Jack for a while already, "Give me an hour to just sit and then we can go."

 

"How about I ask Molly Weasley for the most annoying weed she's ever had to deal with?" Dora proposed and got up to find another box to roam about in, Regulus snorted and switched on the radio. "He gave you a book that erased itself if you didn't turn the pages in the right reading pace for your birthday, I think he's in for a stupid christmas present for himself."

 

\--

 

In the hours leading up to him going over to Olivia and revealing himself as a wizard to her, Regulus drove everyone in Grimmaudplace so crazy that Kreacher popped away to buy groceries they didn't need from Diagon Alley and Dora made a spontaneous visit to the Weasleys, even the portraits disappeared or went into total ignorance of the Master of the House.

 

Olivia though surprised him after he had spoken those words.

 

"I'm a wizard."

 

Her response was immediate.

 

"Prove it to me."

 

Along the things that Regulus might have expected to happen in a first reaction from Olivia after he had told her the truth about himself, _that_ choice had not been very high on his list but he wasn't too surprised either. She had a practical and rather down-to-earth approach to everything, sudden surprises and complicated situations included.

 

He looked around for a moment, made most of all sure that Jack was still nowhere in sight, the last thing he wanted now was to freak out a toddler. Remus had advised him to go small but distinctive, to not use something that looked like some cheap Muggle trick. Ted had proposed to simply summon something personal that couldn't be something identified by anyone else.

 

"Tell me what pair of socks you want," he asked of her, had been noticing how she kept on rubbing her feet against each other, no doubt having freezing feet again. Olivia flushed and still kept her challenging look, she was giving him the benefit of the doubt but she wasn't convinced yet that he wasn't pulling her leg.

"A woolen purple pair from my nightdrawer but I am warning you, Reggie, you cannot fool me, they have very specific tears and misknittings that only _I_ would recognize." Olivia told him but Regulus smiled at her and summoned said pair of socks, wouldn't need a wand for that, not anymore.

 

It buzzed and then Olivia shrieked, jumping to her feet to catch the pair of purple socks flying their way, clutching them tight in her hands she whirled around to stare at Regulus. He didn't pause to let it sink in and instead enlightened the fireplace with a flick of his fingers, then procured a bottle of water and two glasses from the cabinet here in the kitchen.

 

"How in the..."

 

"Like I said I'm a wizard," Regulus said quietly as he slowly got to his feet, "This is all small things that I can by now do without a wand." He saw how she opened her mouth and got before her, summoning his wand from his coat and holding it out for her to inspect. Olivia handed him the socks and took his wand, turning it over in her hands, "I'll answer every question you have, just please don't hate me."

 

"Hate you?" Olivia's head snapped up and she gaped at him, "I would never hate you! And this is incredible!" Regulus could feel how his heart started beating again with vigor, how rocks fell off his shoulders, his breaths coming easier, his headache disappearing, and yes, love was the most powerful thing of them all. He dropped the socks with a laugh when Olivia ran out of words and instead lurched forward into his arms, his own wand digging quite uncomfortably into his side but Regulus didn't care when Olivia kissed him. He pulled her closer still and sighed against her lips when Olivia dropped his wand onto the couch, her hands coming up into his hair.

 

"I have so many questions," she whispered against his lips when they broke apart again and Regulus chuckled, "Most of all, are you even allowed to tell me? It sounds all very protected and..." He stopped her with a gentle finger on her lips, he pulled back just enough to be able to look at her without squinting.

"Of course there are regulations but you're not just anyone. I really love you, Liv, and I didn't want to keep this from you anymore." He confessed to her and closed his eyes when she leaned against his chest, her fingers tracing over his back. "I'll try to answer all your questions, find you books about the ones I can't answer. And I want to take you to my home, show you where I grew up, where I live now."

 

"Your family...are they wizards, too?" Olivia asked when he pulled her down on the couch once more, set his wand to the side and instead pulled her feet into his lap so he could pull on her thicker socks. He also knew she was asking after Andromeda and her little family, the ones Regulus had told her about, the ones they would meet in two days.

"They are, Andy, Ted, their daughter...my friends as well," he explained and Olivia smiled, she had both met Marc and Adrienna and both sides had both times been delighted, "You sure you're okay?"

 

"My head is spinning but I'm so happy you told me," Olivia told him and then pulled on his hands until Regulus let go of her feet, they rearranged themselves and shifted around until he was hovering above her, one knee between her legs, elbows balanced on the pillows, nosing at her neck. "This school you're teaching at?"

"It's called Hogwarts, a school for magical children where they learn not to blow things up, control their magic and learn how to create things, transform things, how to defend themselves or even fight with it." He painted the picture for her, "It's a grand castle, really old and isolated. The kids can really be safe there."

 

"And what are you teaching them?" Olivia asked somewhere between pulling up his shirt and sliding her fingers under it, Regulus smirked against her neck and nudged a second knee between her spread legs to be able to balance himself better.

"Potions," he said and kissed a path down to her collarbone, loving how the comfortable shirt she had greeted him in had a collar that was riding quite low, "Think like creating poisons, creating sleeping draughts, creating some healing medicine-like ones as well."

 

"So much better than the chemistry I had been picturing," Liv mentioned a little breathlessly and hooked a leg around his thigh to pull him closer, "What other classes are there?" Regulus needed a moment until he could focus enough to answer because Liv's fingers were edging under the waistband of his pants.

"Transfiguration, like turning a frog into a cup. Charms, learning how to let things float for example. Defense or Defense against the Dark Arts, that basically learning how to fight and defend against creatures but also people. Herbology is plants." He listed the central ones down for her and Liv snorted a little in the end, having noticed his little huff no doubt, Regulus pushed himself up and smiled at her.

 

"Judging by that tone, herbology wasn't your thing?"

 

"Plants aren't my thing," Regulus added even and Liv laughed heartily, "There is also Care of Magical Creatures, which is basically what the name says, I was better at that, and loads of other that I would be happy to tell you about at any other point then right now." Regulus decided and then leaned down for a real kiss, a kiss they lost themselves into until quick feet were stomping down the stairs from the bedrooms upstairs in the attic floor.

 

They pulled apart just in time for Jack to come running into the room, grand pout on his face and a broken knight figurine in his hands.

 

"Mummy," he wailed and rushed towards them, crawling up between them without them even having the time to really shift into a comfortable position, "Mummy, I broke it. I sorry."

"Oh my sweetheart, it's okay," Liv soothed him and handed the broken toy to Regulus so they could finally untangle without Liv having to let go of her little boy who was close to tears. This close now, Regulus recognize the toy, it was one he had gotten Jack for his last birthday, Ted and him had struggled through a muggle toy store for an hour.

 

Once they were sitting side by side on the couch, Jack gnawing on his thumb and smushing half his face into his mother's chest was huffing and puffing through sad sighs.

 

"We can fix this, champion," Regulus comforted him as well, reaching out to tap a nose and then grabbing his wand from the table, Liv raised an eyebrow at him, he smiled back at her though, "Will anybody believe a toddler if he tells someone mommy's boyfriend can do magic? I don't want to hide from him, Liv."

"I'm happy you don't want to hide because I really want this to work out, Reg, for the long run." Liv stole his breath away, his heart pumping a little harder.

 

"I want nothing more than to have a future with you two, to make us a family," Regulus told her and then focused down on the toy knight before his emotions could role up in him, he tapped his wand against the broken off arm with the sword, "Reparo." The pieces jumped back into place and Jack lurched over from his mother's arms with a shriek of joy. "See, it's all good again." Jack scrambled up onto his thighs, went for a hug and then plopped down in Regulus' lap to look at his knight.

 

"Thank you!"

 

And no question over how it was possible, children were wonderful.

 

"Can you fly on a broom?" Liv wanted to know when Jack was back in his own little world, running his knight up and down Regulus' leg, Regulus laughed, leaned back into the couch and rolled his head to the side to watch Liv.

"In fact, I can. It's not the preferred way of traveling in my world but our most famous sport is practiced on brooms. I'll show you when we're at my place, there are some things you might need some time to get used to but I...I think we really can make this work."

 

"I think so, too." Liv nodded and then tipped his head back a little so she could kiss him, Jack made an 'ew' sound and Regulus rolled his closed eyes, snapping an arm around Jack's middle to hold him to his chest, prompting the boy to laugh.

 

\--

 

"Come in, come in," Angie Shear was a woman a head smaller than her daughter, Liv even had to bent down to hug her tight as they stepped into the two story house an hour out from London where Liv's parents had moved after her grandparents had died two years ago. Regulus balanced a still sleepy Jack in one arm and their bags in the other, Liv had Jack's rucksack and the basket with presents, and still found a foot to push the front door closed again, "David, they're here!" Angie yelled towards the stairs and then passed by her daughter, "And you must be the fine young man that my daughter kept on hiding from me."

 

"I wasn't _hiding_ him."

 

"It's an honor to meet you, Misses Shear," Regulus offered a hand after he had set the bags down, Jack still dozing against his shoulder, Angie waved that away and went for a hug instead, he returned it a little surprised.

"None of that, it's Angie. Reginald, was it?" Angie tried to recall and Regulus could see how Liv facepalmed behind her mother.

 

"Regulus actually, family had a bit of a thing for stars," he corrected with a smile and Angie clapped her hands together with a laugh, shushing him along into the living room.

"Oh, David is gonna like that," she mentioned and turned half around again to yell once more in the direction of the stairs, "David, will you come down already!" She huffed and pushed Liv and him down on the biggest couch, "I tell you, my darling, your father is taking longer and longer in the bath. He can comb that hair as much as he wants, it's not going to get any less gray. Coffee or tea?"

 

"Tea would be lovely, Mum." Liv replied and Regulus nodded before coaxing Jack to wake up, he had been out like a light the moment Liv had driven her car down the driveway of her apartment building. Angie vanished back into the corridor and a short moment later David Shear stepped into the living room, he was a tall man, taller than his daughter still but it was clear and obvious that Liv was his child, the same kind eyes, the same oval-shaped face and once the same blond hair as well no doubt.

 

"Ah, my angel, you've pushed down on the gas again, haven't you?" He began with a smile and Liv scoffed at him all playfully as she got up to hug him.

"We're actually perfectly on time, Dad," she insisted and then stepped away when Jack had woken up enough to recognize where they were and weaseled between them to demand picking up. David Shear set his grandson on his hip and turned to face Regulus who had stood up.

 

"It's good to finally meet, Regulus, we've heard a great many things about you," David told him as they shook hands and Regulus felt at ease immediately, there was no awkwardness, there was no careful observing, he had simply been warmly welcomed, just like Liv had said it would go.

"The same goes for me, Mister Shear," Regulus still kept to his manners but with him as well he quickly got corrected to first names only.

 

"Stop embarassing Liv, David," Angie clicked her tongue as she came back into the room with a tray filled with mugs, "Sit down, sit down, you young folks are always so busy with work, we'll have to teach you how to relax again." Angie chided and shushed them back onto the couch before setting the tray down on the table, "And look who is awake, come to your Nana, Jackie."

 

Liv took Regulus' hand and he smiled at her, perfectly happy, this was what family was supposed to be, the warmth, the kindness and he was filled with so much joy to be welcomed into their round.

 

\--

 

"If anything is too much or too overwhelming or makes you uncomfortable, tell me, please." Regulus insisted as they walked up the frontyard to Tonks Manor, concerning the home of a magical family, Andy's and Ted's place was still filled with many muggle things, not all pictures were moving, there was a TV and much knick-knacks from Ted's parents and his childhood. Compared to Grimmaudplace it was definitely less likely to overwhelm someone.

 

Aside from the christmas decorations.

 

Once they had passed the protection charms, Liv stopped with a gape, watching the bewitched reindeers that were pulling an actual sleigh in circles around the house, only to dive down to the ground on the yard for a bit before taking off once more. Jack, who had insisted on walking was staring around with wide amazed eyes, over the tall tree with lights in hundreds of different colors, the snowmen having a snowballfight and the gnomes running around with christmas hats, being chased by the family cat with a bigger bell on her neck than usual.

 

No one went all out on christmas like Andy and Ted did.

 

Dora had opened the front door and was leaning against the doorframe by the time Regulus had gotten Liv to move again and stopped Jack from running after a gnome. He was glad to see that Dora hadn't bothered with holding back, hair as bubbly pink as always.

 

"Welcome," Dora called out, smiling at them while Liv approached her with a smile, looking only a little bit surprised, Regulus was still struggling with Jack who wanted to go back to the gnomes and the snowmen, "It's so nice to finally meet you, Olivia, I've heard so many pining great things about you." Regulus gave Dora a glare over Liv's shoulder while the women shook hands, "Dad is still out in town but Ma is in the kitchen, come in, come in."

 

With the front door closed behind them, Jack whined over no longer being able to see the fun display but he was back to smiling when he caught sight of Dora, he stretched out a hand towards her. "Oh, and you must be Jack then, huh? I heard you are a sweet little funny boy?"

"Yes," Regulus agreed with it and set Jack down, going down on one knee to take off his jacket and boots, "And you will not corrupt him into trouble-making, Dora."

 

"I would never dare," Dora promised, her grin betraying the lie behind it though and she tugged Liv under her arm and then down the corridor to the living area. Regulus hung up his and Jack's jackets and then took Jack's hand to lead him into the kitchen where Andromeda was checking over something in the oven while magic mostly did the rest of the cooking tasks.

 

"Oh," she called out in surprise when she saw them, "I didn't hear the bell, did Dora let you in? Hello there, little man, you must be Jack." She crouched down and held out a hand but Jack surprised Regulus a little when instead of a handshake as he had with Dora, Jack this time went in a for hug, "Oh, how wonderful, you're a hugger, too." Sweeping the kid up onto her hip, Andromeda straightened up again to hug Regulus with one arm. "Where is Olivia?" She wanted to know once they had pulled apart again.

 

"Dora kidnapped her to show her around. It smells nice, Ted's recipe?"

 

"Oh, you, get out of my kitchen!" Andromeda slapped a hand against his arm, scowling over Regulus' laughter, "Jack, do you want to help me? I have some cookies I need to make still."

 

"Yes!"

 

Assured that Jack was in the best of hands with his cousin, Regulus left the kitchen in search for Dora and Liv to see if he had to save anyone there but he found them laughing in the sun room, sharing experiences over living in dingy apartments in London. He found himself a seat on an armchair by the fireplace in the living room and blew out a long deep breath, it had been a wonderful holiday time so far.

 

Adrienna and the girls hadn't written which meant they were enjoying their time in Italy and were having fun. Neither Silvan nor Sarena had reached out to him which meant things were quiet in the Rosier House for once as well. And every day without word from Remus was only a sign that things were good and calm at Hogwarts as well. Marc had written a short note to notify Regulus of his suffering boredom at the Ministry christmas party.

 

"Being sent out for last minute grocery runs should be illegal on christmas," Ted grouched as he stepped into the living room a few minutes later, rubbing his hands against each other, "I see you've already given my wife another motivation to haunt Dora for grandchildren." Ted greeted him with a grin and Regulus snorted, he was not going to touch that topic even when forced, Dora had her very own head, Ted sank down in the armchair across from him, "How did it go with her parents?"

 

They talked and Regulus even missed how Andromeda must have slipped by them to go and meet Liv because suddenly he found himself sitting at the dinner table with Jack in a highchair between Liv and him, watching Liv and Andromeda deep in conversation. Jack's attention was stuck between food and the train that kept on passing by over the table then and now.

 

"It's getting ridiculous how stupid Fudge presents himself. We've got patients coming in daily now who got too close to dementors," Ted was saying at their end of the table, scowling for a second into his potatoes, "And the only response they can find is to send out more aurors, even those who are not capable of producing a corporeal patronus. Whom will help that?"

"Dawlish and Kingsley were arguing every second hour before I left for Egypt," Dora joined in and helped herself to more chicken, "They disagree on everything. Are things any better at Hogwarts?"

 

"No, we've had multiple incidents since the year started, they seem to have a preference for Potter but he's still not the only student who got too close to them. We're all complaining to Dumbledore, writing to the Minister but the dementors are staying," Regulus showed his frustration with it, Ted nodded and Dora grimaced into her carrots.

"Would you leave the grim topics already," Andromeda called out then, she had always been the greatest in ignoring trouble, darkness and stress over christmas, "Sirius is not going to ruin another christmas for me, especially not when he isn't even there. Regulus, how are the articles for the Prophet coming along?"

 

"Very smooth, Dru," Ted fake-whispered over to his wife who only sweetly smiled back at him, Regulus glanced over to Liv and found her beaming with joy at him. Her family had welcomed him, and now his had welcomed Jack and her, it might as well be the best christmas he had ever had.

 

Later that day, Ted was answering some of Liv's question over the magical world that he was better in understanding and clarifying than Regulus who had never known any different. Dora was chasing Jack through the snow in the backyard, all remaining signs of her injuries completely gone, and Regulus found himself approached by Andromeda where he was watching them in the sunroom.

"She's perfect for you," Andy told him quietly and sat down by his side, "And I think you're good for her, too. And the little one is just mesmerizingly adorable. Might it be that my little cousin is finally settling down?"

 

"I love her, I really do, Andy," Regulus said with a smile and Andromeda took his hand, squeezed his fingers, "She's the one."

 

\--

 

Regulus swung himself down the stairs and right in Kreacher's path and the elf stared at him, nearly a deadpan, thin arms moved to get crossed in front of a chest and Regulus noted that Kreacher had changed into something cleaner than ever.

"Sorry, nerves," he apologized his stunt and Kreacher sighed, he remained back though when Regulus hurried to the front door.

 

Here went nothing.

 

Olivia was smiling when he opened the door, carrying a bag, one leg keeping Jack and his bouncy yellow backpack from running down the stairs to the street again, curious eyes were looking around eagerly.

 

"Hey, welcome to the House of Black," he joked in greeting and grinned when Jack swivelled around to jump at him, "Hi, there, little guy, you excited for your visit?" He wanted to know, setting the kid on his hip, Jack nodded and tried to peer around his shoulder into the house. Regulus though first preferred to kiss Olivia and then let her pass inside before he closed the door and turned around.

 

"It's so beautiful," Olivia whispered in awe and Regulus knew his heart warmed when he saw the admiration in her eyes for his home. She would never see the darkness this house had posessed, would never get to see dark corridors with traps and dangers left and right. Over by the stairs of the basement, Kreacher was patiently waiting with his hands behind his back, he looked way more settled than Regulus felt.

 

"Liv," he drew her attention away from the moving pictures on the wall, of course those had caught her eyes, "Liv, Jack, I'd like to introduce you to my best friend. Kreacher has been serving my family since before I was born and he has been my dearest friend for as long as I can remember," Regulus explained and Kreacher gave him a smile as he walked closer. Olivia crouched down to greet him and Regulus could see how pleased Kreacher was over a stranger not towering over him in a first impression.

 

"It is an honor to meet you, Kreacher, Reg has told me you have helped with our letters over the years and I am very thankful for that." Olivia told him gently and Kreacher preened, took her hand and shook it.

"Kreacher is pleased to meet Miss Olivia and he has helped with the letters gladly. Kreacher has seen how happy they made Master Regulus," Kreacher answered without a spec of contempt or mistrust and Regulus was so blown away by it that he needed a moment to wrap his head around it.

 

That was no pretending.

 

Kreacher was truly excited to meet them. Curious and excited and...happy.

 

Regulus set Jack down and then watched how Jack walked up next to his mother and observed Kreacher for a moment, being observed in turn. Regulus remembered from his own childhood that Kreacher had loved children, had loved him as a little boy, to play with him when Sirius didn't want to but he had been the second heir, not just a muggle boy coming to visit. Not Dora wearing him down over the cause of years, not pureblood babes as Julienna and Laureen had been. Kreacher though offered a little bow and Jack clapped his hands with a giggle, hesitation bleeding away when he jumped forward to hug Kreacher, just like Regulus knew it from him with other kids on the playground and the park.

 

He tensed for a brief moment when Kreacher paused but relaxed again within the same breath as Kreacher hugged back, confused and flustered but no less endeared.

 

"Kreacher, would it be alright to leave Jack with you while I show Liv the house?" Regulus cringed on the inside, he didn't want to overdo it, he knew that Kreacher still struggled with this complete opposite to what had been hammered into him in manners and opinions and views for decades. Kreacher, probably even sensing his fears, looked up to him and shook his head, eyes speaking volumes over how ridiculous he found the trepidation in his Master's voice, Regulus loved him more than ever.

 

"Of course, Kreacher would be delighted to entertain young Master Jack in the sitting room," Kreacher announced and Regulus promised himself to find a gift in the following week. Assured that Jack was watched, he helped Olivia to her feet again and then took her hand.

"Come on, we'll bring your bag up and then I'll show you around." Regulus proposed and took Liv's hand, letting the bags float up ahead, swing her into a kiss once they had reached the first landing. Liv laughed and leaned against his chest, looking around the portraits who were so far behaving.

 

"This place already looks so wonderful, Reg." Liv said in complete awe and then let go of his hand to step over to a shelf that held some undangerous artifacts his father had collected over the years, "Oh, how brilliant," Liv gushed and leaned closer to the shelf, "How old are those? Do you know?" Regulus was about to open his mouth when another voice got there first and Liv jumped, reaching for his arm again, Regulus squeezed her hand and glared at Phineas.

 

"There are no talking pictures in the bedroom, right?" Liv asked a few moments later after they had left Phineas and his snide comments behind, Regulus would have been offended if he didn't know that Phineas was more or less treating everyone this bitter, "I don't think I could sleep if they're watching me...and Jack won't settle either if the wall talks back." She joked as they reached the landing with the master bedroom.

"No, I made it a point to keep the bedrooms clear of talking portraits." Regulus assured her and Liv breathed out a sigh of relief, it had truly been a focus point of his, to keep the bedrooms truly private now, even the living room had been emptied of all talking portraits. Regulus liked silence and privacy, "Unless a guest wishes so."

 

"You have guests who wish to be watched in their sleep?" Liv wanted to know in complete puzzlement, Regulus laughed and stopped in front of the door that had once led to the family nursery, now he had simply made some additions to the bed to make sure that Jack wouldn't fall out at night, and he had added some toys.

"No," he clarified because as strange and unusual and exhausting his friends could sometimes be, none of them were that weird, "but I have a friend who suffers from severe insomnia sometimes and talking with the wall helps, especially if they talk back."

 

Liv still looked a bit disbelieving but Regulus also knew that stress made her tired, not unable to sleep like Remus and Dora could often complain about. And despite his views and his opinions, Phineas could hold up discussions with Remus that made even Regulus yawn in boredom.

 

"Come on, let me show you Jack's room."

 

\--

 

"He's out like a light," Liv said in almost awe as she slipped back into the bedroom, "Hasn't fallen asleep this fast since we took him to the zoo."

"It was an exciting day." Regulus chuckled and let that chuckle turn into a delighted hum when Liv wrapped her arms around him from behind where he still stood by the vanity to fold his shirt up.

 

"This wasn't just some gang, was it?" Liv wanted to know gently, her fingers tracing over the snake and skull, "There is something a little more dangerous behind this, isn't there?"

"It might take a while to explain that." Regulus admitted but found himself wanting to explain, wanting to talk about his past and the choices he had made, the bad and the good ones.

"I have a lot of patience." Liv told him and then grabbed his hand to tug him over to the bed, Egyptian silk sheets, Regulus might somehow still be a spoiled brat inside in some areas.

 

They sat down, Liv crosslegged and Regulus on the egde of it, shirtless and holding out his left arm towards Liv, the faded mark on full display, "It's called the Dark Mark. When I was a teenager, there was a dark wizard who wanted power, who wanted only purebloods and halfbloods with the right views to remain in the wizarding world. 'Take back what belongs to only us', he said that a lot. He had followers, many of them, people who made his dirty work while he did even more atrocius things in the background."

 

He told her everything, about his family's involvment, about him joining with his friends because he thought it was the right thing to do, about the soon rising fears and doubts, about the regret and the bitter knowledge that there was really only one way out. About finding out about the horcrux, about being so scared and so determined.

 

"The cave and the lake," Liv gasped then as realization struck, they were lying down by then, an hour almost having passed, Regulus with his head tugged against Liv's shoulder, her fingers in his hair, "That was no swimming accident, there was some magic at work, wasn't it?"

"They're called Inferi," Regulus gave a name to the monsters lurking in those memories, "but you better ask one of my friends or family to explain to you what those creatures are because I can't think too hard on it. They got me after I finally had the locket in my hands, I needed to drink something, the potion made you so incredibly thirsty. I knew it was stupid but the thirst was stronger."

 

"How did you get out?" Liv asked and tipped his chin up so they could look at each other, "How did you survive that?"

"I almost didn't. Kreacher got me out just in time but I was weak, slipping in and out of consciousness for weeks and not able to leave the bed for months." Regulus winced a little when he saw the horror in Liv's eyes, "My magic was nearly completely gone, it took almost two years to get back to a basis where I could personally call myself a wizard again, and another year until I was at my familiar level of skills and strengths."

 

Liv looked at him and Regulus wondered what she was feeling, what she was thinking about but she in least at parts answered it for him when she rolled him onto his back and kissed him. And it was easy to forget the darkness in his memories when he could lose himself in her, touch and taste and smell and everything. No more faded screams and hisses in his ears, just Liv's moans and breathy gasps.

 

\--

 

The next morning, Regulus wandered down into the kitchen to find a letter waiting for him in what had to be the worst handwriting Remus must have ever shown.

 

_'Need to talk to you. I'm losing my mind.' - Remus_

 

Olivia was in the bath and Kreacher had an eye on Jack so Regulus saw no problem in closing the door to his study and then floo-calling Remus, his letter had been alarming enough and he needed to know the whole story now. Remus stepped out of the fireplace a few minutes later, pulling a hand through his hair, making it stick up wilder than Regulus had ever seen him, he was paler than usual, looking frazzled and stressed.

 

"Woah," Regulus commented and pushed Remus onto a chair, "What happened to you?" He wanted to know, pulling up a chair for himself, "Is something wrong with the Potions?"

"No," Remus shook his hand and his eyes looked like he had trouble keeping his thoughts, it had been quite some time since Regulus had last seen the werewolf's mind this troubled, "Reg, I wasn't alone. During the moon, I wasn't alone."

 

"What do you mean, you weren't alone?" Regulus pushed a little, entirely confused, he got up again to pour them both a shot of Firewhiskey, it was late enough to not feel bad about it, "Remus?"

"With the Potions I remember more, but still not everything," Remus began with a shaking voice, "The transformations are still complete blurs, and I always pass out immediately after turning human again, but the time in between? I remember them now, I'm in control now. Yesterday... Everything was the same, nothing unusual during the night, just..." And Remus looked up at him where Regulus was holding out a glass to him, "Reg, my clothes and the bedsheets were covered in black hair. Padfoot's black hair. He was _there_."

 

Regulus pressed the glass into Remus' hand and then emptied his own, setting it forcefully down on the desk before leaning against said table.

 

"What does Sirius want?"

 

\--

 

"And you're sure it would be okay?"

 

"Absolutely," Regulus said and pushed a strand of hair from Liv's face, with Jack having spent the weekend with his grandparents, Liv and Regulus had made the most of their last night together before he needed to return to Hogwarts. "Kreacher will bring you and then I'll show you around. I don't know yet if you'd be able to see the castle because it's usually hidden from non-magical eyes but we'll see. Hogsmeade is quite beautiful on its own anyway." He promised her and then kissed her again. They had already moved into the living room, Kreacher had snapped Liv's bags into her apartment already so that she could go directly to work and Regulus' bag was sitting at their feet, three steps away from the fireplace.

 

"This was the most beautiful time, Reg," Liv whispered when they broke apart once more, "And I can't wait for the owls now." He laughed upon the curious tone in her voice.

"If your landlady makes trouble with the neighbours again, you're always welcome to turn up here," he reminded her and then winced when the clock stroke nine, "I really need to go. I love you, and I'll miss you."

 

"I love you, too."

 

He stepped into the fireplace with his bag and then smiled as Liv vanished from view, he stumbled out of the fireplace back in the private quarters he had at school and set his bag to the side to be taken care of later. He went over his usual return routine, checked over his office, his classroom and the storage and was about to head over to the Common Room to see how the Slytherins who had staid were doing when Remus seemed to appear out of nowhere and pushed him back into his office.

 

"What the Bloody Baron!"

 

Remus didn't react to it all, just pushed until Regulus was stumbling over to his desk and then revealed a familiar parchment. The Marauder's Map was activated and Regulus looked from it up to Remus' ashen gray face, the angry slint of his lips, the fire in those usual warm kind blue eyes.

 

"Ookay, what is wrong?"

 

Once more no verbal reply followed and Remus simply set the map down on the desk and stabbed a finger upon a point of it, Regulus leaned over his arm to check it out. And Regulus read those two words over and over again, just simply not understanding, but there it stood, there it was written while the map shook under Remus' trembling hands.

 

_Peter Pettigrew._

 


	7. Act II - A Friend's Comfort - Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This and the next chapter will be the only ones breaking from Regulus' POV for one scene each. That is just because I wanted to show this one thing and couldn't do it any different. But the remainder of the story will be told by Regulus alone again.

**Chapter 1 – A Rat's Truth**

 

Everytime Regulus thought he knew the castle there was someone coming around who showed him he still knew nothing at all, not that he really cared about it right now on the frantic chase Remus and him were doing up to the Gryffindor Tower where Peter Pettigrew's bloody name was standing right between Harry Potter and Ron Weasley.

 

There were a few questions Regulus' mind had the time to procure while Remus shoved him into secret passages and shortcuts, one of them being how and why Remus was back in possession of the map that Regulus vividly remembered having been given back to the twins. Neither George nor Fred looked like they would pass up the change to have it back, even if the hand offering it belonged to an original Marauder.

 

Secondly, how had Remus after weeks of them scouring that damn map for any sign of Sirius suddenly found Peter Pettigrew on it, and right next to Harry Potter's bed no less, too. Pettigrew's name was not something Regulus would have kept an eye out for because he had thought the man to be bloody dead but he doubted Remus would have skipped over that.

 

So what the hell was going on here?

 

Had Pettigrew managed to get into the castle this one night despite the insane security measures? Despite the bloody dementors threatening to suck everyone empty who just looked like approaching the border of the grounds on either side?

 

...Or had Pettigrew been here all along...

 

"Remus," Regulus gasped out and they stopped even though time was of the essence but Regulus' head was spinning and spinning and twisting, "Please don't tell me that Pettigrew was an animagus, too and that he could turn into a rat."

"Yes, a rat." Remus confessed though and Regulus' mind began screaming with Hermione Granger's tears the day he had found her with Neville and Pomona out by the glasshouses, comforting her after the youngest Weasley boy had had a go at her once more because her cat had once more tried to kill his sick rat.

 

"Ron Weasley has a pet rat," he reminded Remus who still only blinked at him, "A pet rat that is looking quite stressed out because an utterly too smart for his own good half-Kneazle wants to eat it because that damn cat can of course fucking sense that something is rottingly wrong with that stupid rat. A rat that Ron's older brother owned first, a rat that has been with the family for twelve fucking years now. Remus," the realization must have hit them both at the same time because Remus paled and stumbled over to a wall, "Peter wasn't hit by that explosion, not badly anyway, he simply slipped away and no one suspected it because no one knew."

 

"He slipped away because he was guilty," Remus croaked out and his right hand was suddenly holding his wand, the left hand clutching the map even stronger, "He slipped away because he was the traitor."

  
They went back to running, faster than before because suddenly they weren't hurrying for returned dead people, they were going for the throat of a traitor.

 

The right one this time.

 

They reached the portrait entrance entirely out of breath and Sir Cardogan looked at them like he didn't really know how to greet them but Regulus snarled the password at him and then rushed into the common room, Remus right behind him.

 

\--

 

When the Head of Slytherin stormed into the Gryffindor common room mid morning on the first day back from christmas break, a day before classes started up again, it was absolute no surprise at all that it drew attention. Adding to it that said Professor looked like Death was chasing him and he was mighty pissed about it, it brought the room to complete silence, and once their so loved DADA Professor slipped in afterwards, him looking like shock and rage were playing a terrible game of gaining dominance in him, that silence turned to nervousness.

 

"Everyone out! Mister Weasley, go and get McGonagall," Regulus knew his tone demanded no argument and though Percy Weasley looked a bit put upon he nevertheless hurried from the common room, "Spinnet, Bell, wake up every girl and get them out of the tower! Now!" Both Quidditch team members jumped up from the couch they had been sitting on and then quickly raced into the girl's dormitory, most other students were following Regulus' orders, grabbing their things in some cases, the majority though simply leaving in a frightened rush.

 

Remus held the twins back and leaned closer to talk to them in hushed tones, unfolding the map to show them something that had them gape in no time.

 

Regulus himself held Oliver Wood back and noted with some relief that Samentha hadn't made a step out of the common room either yet, "Samentha, go and run to Dumbledore. Tell him that dead people are alive and that the traitor is not Sirius Black." She blinked at him, judging by her still wearing a robe over her pyjamas, she couldn't have been awake long, but she got the urgency in his voice quick enough and didn't question anything, just spun around on the spot, tugged on George Weasley's sweater until he took if off and handed it over to her and then she was running from the common room as well.

 

Regulus busied himself with throwing some spells on the boy's dormitory staircase that would for now prohibit anyone from leaving it, weather it be boy or animal. The girls came hurrying down with surprised, frightened faces in various stages of nightwear and casual day clothes but Regulus impatiently waved them all from the room, those who tallied moved faster after Wood snapped at them, entirely clueless yet as to what was going on but having caught onto the mood of his teachers.

 

Once the girls were all out, Spinnet and Bell the last who left with two rather white-faced first years on their hands, Remus and the twins were grabbing Merlin knows what stuff from nooks and crannies. Regulus informed Wood in a short explanation of what was going on and then shushed him up the boys' dormitory to wake the remaining boys in the rooms below Harry Potter's so far and to lead them to the end of the staircase.

 

With him gone, Regulus walked over to the table where the map had been placed and nearly screamed when he couldn't find Pettigrew's name anymore but his brain kicked in before his heart could panic. He grabbed Remus' arm as the other walked past once more, the twins working on something at the entrance portrait hole, without a comment he pressed Remus' fingers back onto the map. His chest expanded with a relieved breath while his mind went "the fuck?"

 

Raising Remus' fingers again, he watched how Pettigrew's name disappeared, only to reappear immediately right on the same spot the second Remus' fingers touched the map again. Regulus snapped his eyes up to Remus' face who looked like he had never been more angry with his younger self.

 

"We shouldn't have put so much blood magic into it," Remus grumbled and Regulus fought the urge to throttle four idiotic boys again who were way too smart for their own good, creating means so dangerous, "I didn't realize it until now because one of us always had the map back then. She doesn't show us if anyone else activates it. At least with non-relatives, I wouldn't be so sure if Harry could see us on it."

 

Regulus took a very deep breath and let him go again, it certainly explained why the twins had never seen a stranger sleeping in their brothers' beds in the years since they had found this instrument of evil.

 

He saw how Wood appearing with some boys in tow and he hurried over to get them out of his wards, magic checking them over for any rat that might have been smuggled along by accident. They were clean though and Regulus shushed from the common room and then went up with Wood to the rooms above Harry Potter's shared dorm. Silence spells on the stairs protected them from discovery and Regulus hexed the door to the third year's dorm closed on their way up as well.

 

By the time those boys were gone as well, the twins had done something with the entrance portrait that would shower whoever tried to escape through in sticky goo that was to immediately glue them to the floor within a breath, Regulus did not want to know how much of that had been a twins' held back prank idea and how much had been Remus' spontaneous addition, Gryffindors gave him rashes in too high a dosis.

 

"It'll hold for animals, too. We could show you." The twins offered but Regulus declined because the only animal he saw in the vicinity was a mighty pissed off looking Crookshanks high up on a bookshelf where he must have sought shelter from the stampede of students that had disturbed his morning nap. Regulus had no desire to see what grudge that cat could hold, he had heard enough this school year already, Kneazles were too intelligent. Marc had had a pureblooded one, a beast of a cat that he had had since childhood, Regulus remembered that one – lovingly called Margaret – to be more effective than some hitwizards.

 

And Margaret had been about a hundred times nicer than Crookshanks on his best days as far as Regulus was concerned and informed.

 

The prank measures on the portrait meant that they couldn't sent any more students out for the moment, but it was a number Regulus could live with, even if it included Harry Potter in such close proximity to the man who had given his parents to Voldemort. He trusted Wood and the twins to be capable of taking care of themselves.

 

"They only ones in the room are Harry, Ron and Neville." Remus said when they slipped into the staircase with wands drawn, Wood coming along to guide the boys out. And Neville, dammit fate, Regulus cursed on the inside as they crept up stair by stair, why did that poor always got involved in this, too. He didn't want Neville around Pettigrew, maybe even less than Harry Potter, because Neville carried his heart in his hands, Potter was used to the world being a terrible place by now, Neville could still be protected.

 

And Pettigrew had given his parents to Voldemort, too.

 

And Regulus had promised Great-Something-Aunt Callidora that he would keep Neville safe.

 

He was gonna get it the moment she heard that her cherished little great-nephew had slepped in a room with a mass murderer and traitors for years. Augusta Longbottom was going to _kill_ him, and she had just started to warm up to him.

 

\--

 

Magic pushed the door open slowly and no sound following showed that the three boys still left in danger were still sleeping peacefully. There was no sign of any rat but from what Remus had told him there had been trouble among Harry Potter's closest friends because apparently Miss Granger's cat was set on eating the youngest Weasley boy's rat. Regulus couldn't blame the feline, smart cat, though it would do them no favor now, they needed Pettigrew alive to get the truth out of him.

 

Remus walked left to get to Harry, Regulus took right to get to Neville, opened the curtains and Neville blinked open his eyes right away. Regulus was quick to place a finger on his lips to indicate him to be quiet, and though Neville's eyes went wide, he still obied. Regulus grabbed the boy's slippers, pushed them into his hands and then guided him to the door, he handed Neville over to Oliver Wood and then made a sharp gesture for them to leave, both followed the instructions without any complaint.

 

Regulus closed the door then with a barely there sound and turned back around, Harry was sitting on his bed, staring with wide eyes up at Remus who was just then carefully pulling Ron from his bed, the boy was confused but followed nevertheless, and once the boys were sitting next to each other, Remus reached into Potter's trunk. He pulled out a cloak and threw it over the boys, a pointed finger hopefully sign enough that they should stay put, Regulus noted the fact that Potter had an invisibility cloak away for a later discussion.

 

Then Remus looked over to Regulus and they both in quiet agreement raised their wands towards Ron Weasley's bed. Fortunately, the spells needed were all non-verbal and it took no time at all until a rat was scrambling out from beneath a pillow, trying to dive down below Neville's bed but Remus was fast enough. The yellow spell hit the rat right in the side and still in falling over the tiny body began to transform, turning into a shabbily dressed man right in front of their eyes.

 

From below Potter's cloak there was a choke, and Regulus didn't want to imagine what the poor boys had to be thinking now.

 

No one moved for a good few seconds, Pettigrew – because yes, yes it was undeniably him, older, slightly taller, but still him, the traitor – stared at Remus who glared right back and kept his wand pointed straight at him. Regulus was caught on the sidelines but had no trouble with it, aside from the fact that this man had put his supposedly innocent brother in jail for twelve years, he didn't have a connection to Pettigrew, the Potters hadn't been his friends.

 

"Remus!" Pettigrew caught himself again and struggled himself to his feet, "Remus, my old friend!"

"Don't call me that!" Remus snarled and Regulus let his eyes briefly flicker over to him before they settled back on Pettigrew, "You don't get to call me friend ever again, and I am ashamed that I ever let you close enough in the first place. Tell me what you did, Peter, tell me why!"

"I didn't do anything," Pettigrew cried out and yes, he was still as pathetic and slimey and disgusting as Regulus remembered him from his school days. 'Why him' Evan had used to ask Barty and him after Regulus had once more freed them from a Marauders' prank, 'I get that your brother surrounds himself with Potter and Lupin, as much as I despise them, they're smart, they're talented but what skills could this fat kid bring them?' "It was Sirius, it..."

 

"You don't get to take his name on your lips, either." Regulus said so very coldly and Pettigrew actually looked bloody terrified when he looked over to him and his own raised wand, "You will tell us immediately how you are alive or I will take the information from you. It's your choice in the end but the truth will get out now." Regulus clarified and Pettigrew looked around the room, clearly searching for an escape but there would be none, if there was something the Weasley twins were extremely good at, then it was barricading stuff.

 

No one would leave the tower right now.

 

Pettigrew remained silent and Remus was growing impatient, too much time had been thrown away already, too much time with the potentially wrong people in prison.

 

Regulus braced himself.

 

It was for the right cause.

 

"Legilimens."

 

And he saw it all.

 

\--

 

He saw how Pettigrew cowered on a couch in a cosy living room, nervous and twitchy while Sirius, so young and vibrant, was leaning against the doorframe, watching James Potter pace in front of the fireplace. It was such a stark contrast to the situation they found themselves in in Gryffindor tower that Regulus was free-falling for a moment, drinking in his brother's younger face, still mostly free of the pain that was to come.

 

They had lost friends already but the worst was yet to fall over them, especially where it concerned the two men who could barely go the span of two breaths without at least glancing at each other. From somewhere deeper in the house a baby's squeal could be heard and then a woman's soft laugh, both James and Sirius smiled while Pettigrew kept his eyes fixed on the hands he worried in his lap.

 

"No one would suspect, Prongs, no one. They'd all be after me," Sirius was reasoning and he was grinning and so confident, so proud. This was the boy who had graduated only a year and a half ago, who still thought he was invincible and the world was only made to admire him.

"And you think that is gonna make me happy?" James Potter stopped his pacing and snarled his words out in obvious anger, Sirius flinched, "Knowing that they'll be chasing you more than ever while I am forced to sit behind these walls, unable to help you, unable to know if you make it out alive? What do you think Remus is gonna think of that?"

 

It was a blow to the gut, low at that, too. Pettigrew's head snapped up and he stared with wide eyes and a slightly gaping mouth at James Potter who kept his gaze unwaveringly on Sirius, as if this was a test. And maybe it was, Regulus knew there had been tension back then because Remus had been gone so often, had not always been completely honest about what he was doing for Dumbledore. Sirius now had his eyes narrowing at his best friend, but made no other outside move aside from a more stubbornly set jaw.

 

"Remus isn't here, and we don't know when he'll come back." Sirius ground out after a moment of silence and Regulus wasn't sure what the look meant that James Potter showed, he had never entertained the thought that there might have been something going on within the Marauders. James Potter had drooled after Lily Evans the second boys stopped thinking girls were annoying. Pettigrew hadn't stopped being awkward but as far as Regulus had noted he had only been interested in girls, too. Sirius and Remus?

 

Had that been part of the tension, too? Sirius caught been paranoia, the taste of supposed betrayal and heartache on top of it as well?

 

"Prongs, you know this is the best decision we could make." Sirius remained stubborn and pushed himself off the wall, taking a few steps until he could place his hands on James' shoulders, "Make Peter the Secret Keeper, tell no one of the change and Lily and Harry will be safe." James nodded and Regulus abandoned the memory for another.

 

\--

 

He saw how Pettigrew was dragged into an oh so familiar hall by two masked Death Eaters, the pale hair of one of the giving him away as Lucius, the other's height and frame matching him to either Antonin or Rodolphus, though a quick look around the room narrowed it down to Antonin Dolohov. Regulus got distracted from the actual point of the memory he had found in Pettigrew's so easy to read mind though because Evan and Barty were standing off to the side, Barty grinning and without a care just as Regulus remembered him.

 

Evan was closed off, not a twitch in his face that could have been made from stone. Regulus drank in the sight of them, judging by the timeline Evan would be dead soon and Barty behind the cold walls of Azkaban not that much later, they looked so young. Barty leaned in to whisper something to Evan who only nodded, his green eyes set on Pettigrew, Regulus wasn't able to hear them of course, Pettigrew hadn't, memories didn't work like that.

 

But he was standing right there in front of them, would have been able to touch if such a thing were possible. He could watch how Barty amused himself over whatever joke he must have whispered to Evan, how he draped himself against the wall because he had never learned to stand straight and had never bothered with trying either. He could watch how Evan remained seemingly emotionless to the unknown eye but up close his eyes were speaking a whole other story.

 

Had he stopped grieving his best friend yet? Had they gotten over Regulus who had been dead for more than a year by now? Had they stopped wondering over what had happened or had they believed the story over an Order attack? Had Evan's grief over him shook free that last remaining chain he had chackled over his jealousy because Regulus had argued that he was better off without it? Was he out for Adrienna's lover's blood now because no one was left to stop him? Barty sure wouldn't.

 

Had Barty fully emerged himself yet into being the pet that Bellatrix couldn't make of Regulus?

 

A door got opened and the present Death Eaters lowered their faces when Voldemort strode into the room.

 

And Pettigrew broke before even one question had been asked. He told Voldemort the address of the Potter's as if it were two people making smalltalk about the weather. Voldemort looked so content and Regulus quickly fled that memory, no reminders of his lost friends could be worth that man's darkness.

 

\--

 

He saw his brother raging and crying in an alleyway in London that Regulus recognized because he had went there in '87 to find peace, and had left with no trace of it. The same it had been with Godric's Hollow where he had went to in the summer of '85 under a disguise to stand in front of the house where Voldemort had supposedly been vanquished, Regulus had only been left asking himself why he couldn't feel anything. Trafalgar Square still made him cringe everytime he stepped on it because it had been where Sirius had learned the truth about him. And just last year he had finally gotten Dora to dig around the archives to find the exakt place where Alistair Moody had killed Evan, and that street corner had brought absolutely no peace of mind either.

 

"How could you?" Sirius was yelling, a sob breaking free right afterwards, "how could you do it? I trusted you! I trusted you to keep them safe! I thought you loved them just like I did!" Sirius was shaking and it wasn't anger, it was pain, this was a Sirius who had only hours ago been standing in Godric's Hollow, staring at his best friend's dead eyes.

 

This was Sirius who had lost another brother, only this one he had loved with more than all his heart.

 

Regulus found his own hands twitching for a wand that would be useless in a memory, where had he been this time he wondered then for the first time while Sirius whimpered and Pettigrew only dispassionately stared back at him, sitting in a cottage, reading a book because anything more than basic magic still gave him terrible headaches.

 

"How could you do this to them? How could you betray James like this?"

 

Would have Remus' appearing through some insane shift of fate changed anything in this moment? Would he have kept his head about him and subdued or maybe even killed Pettigrew and then caught Sirius' pain before it made him lose his humanity?

 

"How could you..."

 

Regulus knew what was to happen soon, or he had a good guess about it, he had read the reports often enough to know about this ugly fight that reduced half the alley to rubble and claimed twelve innocent lives.

 

Just...Pettigrew hadn't died, he had gotten injured but not died and must have scurried away as a rat.

 

And then there was a group of drunk muggles dressed up in their stupid Halloween costumes, laughing and singing off tune and Pettigrew became the monster. He screamed accusations, he pushed forward fake tears and became wilder and wilder, pulled his wand and the last thing Regulus got to see in that memory was Sirius' shocked face and the hand holding his wand that remained lowered.

 

Sirius had not even raised his wand.

 

Numb to everything but the terror of shock in his own blood, Regulus could do nothing but stand frozen while Pettigrew's spells brought half the building down on them, leaving a huge crater in the alleyground and mangled muggle bodies lying everywhere.

  
The memory faded into black to the sound of Sirius' screaming, everyone had a limit, no one could endure pain like that and not break.

 

\--

 

Regulus dropped his magical hold on Pettigrew's mind like the disgusting piece of crap he was, not caring when the man staggered onto Neville's poor bed in the process. He sent an immobilizing curse onto Pettigrew that made it still possible for him to hear everything, just this once he wanted the man to be as helpless as James and Lily Potter had been the evening where Voldemort had walked into their home.

 

"Sirius convinced James to change Secret Keepers," Regulus began and winced when Harry ripped off the cloak at the same time as Remus sank down on Ron's bed, their fears confirmed, "He argued that no one would suspect Peter." And how should have anyone gotten that thought when even Remus had been so utterly convinced that James Potter would entrust no one else but Sirius with that role? Remus buried his face in one hand, the other clutching his wand in a death grip.

 

Harry climbed off his bed, clearly hit by this reveal just as hard, thirteen year old kids shouldn't be going through this but the boy deserved the truth as well. Regulus waited until Harry had knelt down on his best friend's bed, a hand on Remus' shoulder, they had grown close in the weeks since Halloween, the boy had needed someone with a connection to his parents so badly.

 

"They caught him on his way home from work, and he let himself be taken, he didn't even try to resist. They, Malfoy and Dolohov, brought him before Voldemort," in the corner Ron whimpered and Regulus grimaced in apology, "Pettigrew spilled secrets like a waterfall. He gave the Potters to You-Know-Who," he hated the name but the ginger-haired boy in the corner had just found out his pet rat was a traitorous fugitive and mass-murderer, some mercy could be given, "he gave the Longbottoms, too. And I have no doubt that if I had listened further he might just have given them the locations and routines of even more Order members."

 

Had Pettigrew given Benjy Fenwick's routines away, too? Had Evan just nicely asked? Had his brothers asked for him so that no one might see Evan being blinded by his jealousy?

 

Fed up, Regulus took the curse off of Pettigrew with a flick of his wand before he continued, "Sirius found him in that alleyway in London in the middle of the night. He must have been looking for hours and he confronted Pettigrew with what had happened. Crying, hurting," Regulus snapped his last two words at Pettigrew who flinched away from him, "Some muggles stumbled upon them. I know the area, not far from Grimmaudplace, there are several pubs around the corner and it was the night of Halloween. Those muggles were drunk out of their mind, saw two guys arguing, maybe wanted to see what all the fuss was about. This swine here saw and threw himself in a tirade, accusing Sirius of the things he had done! And then he raised his wand against his friend who was broken!" Regulus yelled and made the few sharp steps he needed until he could press the tip of his wand against Pettigrew's chest, "Raised his wand against a man who had lowered his!"

 

"He was erratic."

 

"He was grieving!" Regulus lost his patience and his cool, digging his wand further into Pettigrew's ratty shirt, he wouldn't even need to look to know how pale Remus had to be, how much it had to hurt to know that Sirius had been in Azkaban for twelve years while he was innocent. "He was crying! He could barely speak because of the pain and you wanted to hurt him but of course you couldn't! You're a coward, Pettigrew, you're a coward and a traitor!"

 

"You betrayed people, too."

 

"I didn't betray my best friends," Regulus spit at him, "I didn't betray the people who thought of me as family, who trusted me to keep the most important people in their life safe! You delivered the Potters to their death and you couldn't even stand up for it! Instead you blasted twelve innocent muggles barely older than you were and you vanished like the disgusting rat you are!"

 

"He's a monster, he deserved..."

 

There was a crash and Regulus whirled around, jumping into Remus' path and setting both hands against his chest.

 

"Don't you ever dare again and say what he deserves and what he doesn't," Remus growled and Regulus had to throw his entire weight against him, "He trusted you! James trusted you. Was that ever worth something to you? Was our friendship ever worth something to you or were we just a convenient shadow to hide behind?" Remus glowered and Pettigrew was stuttering but couldn't get a sentence together and Regulus really had no free hand left to keep Harry from brushing past them, wand drawn, face ashen.

 

"Why did you do it?" The boy asked, hadn't raised his voice, hadn't colored it with hostility, it was just a boy asking a question. "Why did you betray them to Voldemort?" The silence that followed was the heaviest Regulus had ever experienced, and he had stood at his father's shoulder as his mother had banished Sirius from the family. "It's not a difficult question, I think," Harry went on and Regulus was so glad the boy stopped approaching Pettigrew just out of grabbing distance, "Why did you hand them over to Voldemort? They were your friends."

 

"I believe, Mister Potter," everyone looked around when Dumbledore stepped into the room, followed by an irate looking Minerva McGonagall, "that whatever answer you'll receive will not be to your liking. As I was informed, I have a story to hear but the screaming did its part already, I believe. I'll take it from here then, boys. Minerva, if you'd be so kind as to lead Mister Potter and Mister Weasleys to their housemates. Remus, Regulus, I believe a moment to collect ourselves would be quite appropriate."

 

\--

 

Regulus was only able to tug Remus from the room after Dumbledore had assured him that he had already called the aurors after Samentha had come running, after that Remus came willingly. They followed Minerva down the stairs into the nearly empty common room, the only ones left were the three older Weasley boys and Oliver Wood squeezing the shoulder of a very nervous looking Neville.

 

Unusually quiet, Ron Weasley hurried over to the oldest brother he had at Hogwarts and pushed his face against a surprised Percy's chest, "An animagus," Ron rasped out and Regulus grimaced. How disturbing did it have to feel? To find out that the pet, the furry friend you entrusted your secrets to, told your feelings to when you couldn't tell your human friends, that that pet had been a man, a treacherous evil man. "Scabbers was no rat," he croaked out and Regulus saw so easily how every bit of color drained from the Head Boy's face, "he was an animagus and he betrayed Harry's parents to You-Know-Who."

 

Even the twins were speechless.

 

"We'll deal with all of that outside this tower," Minerva broke through the silence, "Mister Weasley, Mister Wood, if you'd please take your younger housemates down to my classroom?" Wood was the only one who nodded, the Weasleys too caught in shock but Wood managed to get them out of common room, one hand each on Neville's and Harry's shoulders. Minerva turned around slowly the second the portrait was closed again, Regulus only realized then that he still had one hand tightly curled around Remus' wrists, the taller man's hands curled into fists. "Remus, I am so sorry."

 

"I'm too," Remus answered her and his eyes were a million years away, his voice empty and blank, "I'm sorry, too, sorry for myself to have ever thought him to be my friend, be my brother. Now, excuse me," he shook off Regulus' hold on him, or better say his arm twitched and Regulus let go of him, "I think I need a moment alone." They let him leave, both of them knowing well that Remus was not someone to be pushed or crowded into a corner.

 

"How are you doing?" Minerva turned to Regulus then and he threw a look up towards the staircase just to evade her gaze. Their dynamic had been complicated the first few years after he had started teaching and had been utterly non-existent before that. She had only truly started to warm up to him maybe two or three years before Potter had started at Hogwarts, her nightly rounds bringing her upon him in the afterflashes of a terrible vivid nightmare, fled out to an alcove in an abandoned corridor, collapsed onto a stone bench with too shaky legs and burning breaths.

 

Sirius had been one of her favourites, right along with Potter, and he didn't want to imagine how she had to feel now, either, to go from hating Sirius for betraying James to learning that no one had been more loyal to James Potter than he had after all.

 

"He's been in that hellhole for twelve years. Innocent. And now he is roaming about out there, hunted by the damned hitwizards and aurors and bloody dementors. Innocent. And I have no idea what to do." Regulus admitted, brushing a hand through his hair.

"Did Pettigrew talk or did you go into his head?" Minerva wanted to know quietly, pushing Regulus to sit down on one of the horrendously red armchairs, the Slytherin in Regulus was screaming in discomfort, his skills with invading minds was known by the Hogwarts staff.

 

Regulus' father had taught him when Regulus had been thirteen and eager to escape the drama that Sirius carried around himself in those days, his father's study being the only safe space. He had used it on a boy the following term, a Ravenclaw boy who had been bothering Marc for associating with Slytherins, Regulus had wanted to find something to blackmail him into backing off. Flitwick had caught him but had been too impressed to punish him.

"I was in his head," he replied when it felt like the silence had already been answer enough, "Dug through his memories. I was kind, if you want to know, I didn't force them out."

 

"I don't," Minerva surprised him with the coldness in her voice, "What he did, it doesn't have him deserve any kindness. I was already so beyond rage when I thought Sirius had done what we had all thought, but this is so much worse." Regulus thought back to the images that were now stuck in his mind forever, of James Potter throwing that look to Sirius, that trust, that infinity belief of unending loyalty and brotherhood, of Sirius standing in that alleyway, shoulders and stance broken for the first time in his life, pain in every bone of his body, this image of a defeated man.

 

"Go," Minerva said when he still made no move to look like talking, "Be a dear and see to it that Remus gets someone to talk to. I'll make sure this mess gets properly taken care of. Is there anyone who should hear about this before the Prophet gets wind the second the Ministry appears here?" Regulus' mind flashed to Andromeda and Dora but it was too late for Dora now for sure and Andy he had to take care of himself, couldn't let a stranger do it, instead another thought comes to his mind.

 

"You should write the Weasley parents that they have been harboring Pettigrew for twelve years without knowing. If I were in their shoes, I wouldn't want to hear it from a newspaper."

 

Thought of mothers and worries for their children let his mind snap to Olivia and explaining this to her when just two weeks ago he explained to her what Sirius had supposedly truly done in the first place.

 

He left Gryffindor Tower and took quick steps down to Remus' quarters just one corridor off the Defense classroom, he stepped in without knocking.

 

\--

 

"Twelve years in Azkaban." Remus repeated for the fifth time in a row, it having been the only thing he seemed capable of saying since Regulus had found him over his desk, breathing too sharp and too panicked to seem healthy. Regulus had pushed him into a chair, set up a kettle of tea or at least tried to but found his hands too shaky and so ended up asking the houseelves for some. They had of course turned up with tea and mini-sandwiches that neither of them would eat because simply the thought of food made Regulus want to throw up.

 

Dobby, bless his soul, had taken a good long look over them and then asked if he should pour them both a shot of Firewhiskey. Regulus was down to his second now, Remus hadn't touched his glass yet.

 

"How much of that time do you think he spent hating the world?" Remus went on and though Regulus kept the answers to the privacy of his own mind, he still answered. All of it, was the response to the first question, Sirius had always been angry with the world, from the second he had known what the world meant. "How many times couldn't he breathe because he didn't know if Harry was safe?" All the time, judging by Sirius' loyalty and love for James Potter. "How much time did he spent asking himself why he deserved this?" All the time. "And how many times did he hate me for not having been there to stop him?"

 

"None." It slipped out despite his wish not to say it and Regulus was glad when Remus didn't push for a further explanation on it. "He's still there, still around." Feeling the urge to move his limbs, Regulus paced a little, "The truth will come out now. He can stop running then because everyone will know that..."

 

"He's innocent, right?"

 

Regulus jumped when Harry's voice came so suddenly out of thin air, he whirled around with wide eyes while Remus groaned and called out a deadpanned, "Harry, cloak." Fabric rustled and then Regulus froze when Harry reappeared from under the freaking invisibility cloak he had nearly forgotten again. Harry gave him a sheepish smile despite the burning need for answers in his eyes, Regulus looked from him to Remus who mirrored that sheepish grin.

 

Regulus growled, "let me guess, another one of those Marauder heirlooms?" He demanded and Remus shook his head, it was still Harry though who answered.

"It was my Dad's, and his Dad's before that." Harry explained proudly and Regulus didn't want to think it again but didn't that explain even more of their bullshit and Harry's stunts this time around, "Dumbledore gifted it to me my first christmas here."

 

That darn old man.

 

"To answer your question," Regulus got back to topic then, "Yes, Sirius is innocent, at least of those crimes. He still broke out of Azkaban." He pointed out and grimaced at the scoff Remus sent him, it was the truth though, though admittedly the extreme lesser of two evils.

"Because he knew he was innocent!" Harry Potter cut in, skinny twig of fury, Regulus ignored the fire and sat down on a chair finally, reaching for his glass because this had gone from shock to horror to terrible revelations way too fast.

 

It was not even eleven in the morning but sometimes a shot of Firewhiskey was even needed at this time, Remus could drink his tea if he wanted.

 

"Harry..."

 

"I overheard Fudge in the Three Broomsticks and..." Harry stumbled over his words and only clamped his lips shut again when he realized he had said too much and found himself under the sharp gazes of two men whose patience was already torn to shreds for the day, two men who had worked so hard to keep him safe this year alone.

"You're not allowed in Hogsmeade." Regulus deadpanned calmly and Harry tried a small innocent smile on him that might have worked if he was in truth Julienna Greengrass, six years younger and still wearing pigtails, Remus violently set his teacup back down on its plate.

 

"Damn it, Harry, you promised me!" Remus snapped quietly, he wasn't made for anger, Regulus knew that, Harry looked down at his feet, the guilt looking way more real now, "How did you get down there?" Remus demanded to know and all three of them sent a look towards the Marauder's Map that Remus had angrily thrown onto the small couch in the corner.

"Fred and George showed me another way...I only went once, under the cloak, no one knew aside from the twins, Ron and Mione." The logic of thirteen year olds was as always incredible, "But I overheard Fudge and he said that he was in Azkaban, that Sirius asked for the newspaper because he wanted the crossword puzzle."

 

"The crossword puzzle? Sirius _hated_ those." Remus mentioned in confusion and for all that he never knew his brother that well, Regulus couldn't picture Sirius with crossword puzzles either.

"Hermione did some counting and thinking and we think that the paper was the one with the Weasleys' picture on the front. From Egypt. And Scabbers was in it, too, right on Ron's shoulder." Harry explained and when Remus gestured for it, he sat down on the couch, folding up his cloak.

 

"Sirius saw Peter..."

 

"And the article, Ron has it, it mentions Ron being friends with me." Harry added still and Regulus leaned back in his chair, turned his eyes up upon the ceiling, how that must have shot straight to Sirius' gut, hit him right in the heart and flared up a fear that of course not even the walls of Azkaban could hold back. Regulus knew what he would do if Jack or Julienna were in danger, how disregarding of the rules he would become.

 

"He saw Peter and then he read that he was around you, of course he'll freak." Remus shared his opinion, dragging both hands through his already wild hair, "Reg, we have to find him."

"We tried." Regulus mentioned, as if they hadn't already used all of their resources, ideas and crazy plans to get to Sirius, they had turned half the grounds upside down and the closest they had ever come to him were black dog hairs on Remus' clothes after a full moon.

 

"We tried to capture him, we didn't try to _find_ him."

 

\--

 

Remus opted out of seeing Pettigrew be taken into custody by the aurors and Regulus understood well enough but he couldn't pass it up to see the rat handed over, so he left Remus in the company of Harry, Hermione Granger and the still shellshocked Weasleys when the time came on the next day. Crookshanks, Miss Granger's terribly smart cat, though seemed to share his desire to see Pettigrew taken away and accompanied him to the meeting point on the edge of the grounds close to Hogsmeade.

 

Dumbledore and Minerva had taken Pettigrew, bound and magically restrained, spells used on him that prevented every and any chance of his transforming into his animal self.

 

Crookshanks jumped up upon a rock and watched Pettigrew with narrowed eyes, the cat still looked like he was considering eating the man who was no longer a rat. Kingsley Shacklebolt and Dora appeared with a pop only a moment later, blue robes standing out against the white of winter's nature here. And then there was another apparating crack and Regulus tensed when Alistair Moody came walking closer as well, the now ex-auror came limping up the path with a walking stick and Regulus grimaced at the sight of him.

 

Evan and his brothers had done quite the number on him in '81 before the man had killed Evan and captured Evan's brothers.

 

"Alistair!" Dumbledore called out in almost joy though, nothing ever put that man down for long, "This is a surprise to see you, old friend. I had thought you to have retired for good now." Regulus caught Dora's apologizing eyes as she came to stand with him, foregoing a hug in the eyes of her superior and former mentor.

"Sometimes the bad guys are worth it to come out of retirement for a day," Moody grumbled darkly and sent a murderous look over Pettigrew who was shaking and a barely any different look over to Regulus who stared back at him.

 

Maybe Moody was frightening but Regulus had looked Death and Evil in its unnatural eyes, the old man would have to add some layers still to truly make him nervous.

 

"Where is Lupin?" Kingsley Shacklebolt wanted to know, he had once been an Order member, fresh out of school like most of them, a former Ravenclaw student, according to Dora he was a workaholic but damn good at his job.

"Remus needs some time," Minerva said, throwing a worried look over her shoulder up to the castle, "As it's understandable, he was quite hit by this revelation."

"Of course," Shacklebolt nodded, "Someone should let him know though that he'll need to give a statement to the Ministry. You, too, Black, especially over what you saw in his memories. We'll get Veritaserum approved for this case, Amelia Bones is already burning through quills to get the paperwork done as soon as possible, but we can't use mind-probing techniques."

 

"Are pensives a legal measure to incriminate him?" Regulus wanted to know, eyes looking from Dora who shrugged to Shacklebolt who needed a moment to think before he slowly nodded, "Then I'll offer you what I saw in his head, it'll be enough, believe me."

"Has there been any sign of Sirius?" Moody asked when Shacklebolt began to prepare Pettigrew for transport, all eyes turned towards Regulus.

 

"No, and with all respect, as long as the dementors are still out for his soul, we're not gonna get him. He's innocent, and he knows it. All he wanted in the last months was to protect Harry Potter, his godson if anyone had forgotten it," Regulus pointed out tiredly, "If anyone has a chance now to get to him and talk to him about the truth finally being out, then it's Remus, but only if the dementors are gone and the hitwizards, too."

"We never made it public knowledge that hitwizards are stationed in Hogsmeade," Shacklebolt said with a frown and Regulus gave him a little smirk, "How did you notice them?"

 

"I was a Death Eater once, Shacklebolt, and after that I was the only one who ever defected, I know it when I'm being watched." Regulus explained and the leading auror in Sirius' case groaned, he didn't mention that he had only learned to spot the signs because of Evan's ever unnatural Rosier paranoia, but he didn't think mentioning Evan in front of Moody was going to do him any favors right now so he remained quiet on it.

"Are these terrible things going to be removed then?" Minerva wanted to know and sent a look from Dumbledore to Shacklebolt.

"He still broke out of Azkaban, it's a crime." Moody grunted and took hold of Pettigrew's left arm, Regulus felt viciously good upon seeing the terror in Pettigrew's wide eyes.

 

"He already spent twelve years in that horrid place," Minerva argued hotly, "I believe that's more than enough penance for such a crime. And if it's a fine that has to be paid, I'm sure Regulus can shake some galleons from a pillowcase." She added with a huff and waved away the look that Regulus sent her for that mental image, he did not store his family's wealth in pillowcases.

"The Ministry will pull the dementors back to Azkaban," Shacklebolt promised them, taking Pettigrew's right arm, "I'll be meeting with Fudge this afternoon still. I'll call back our men as well, Dawlish will disagree but he does it with every of my decisions. If you do find Sirius, Mister Black, then write me. A statement from him would no doubt help in clearing his name."

 

"I'll pass the message on if I get the chance."

 

Shacklebolt nodded and then Moody and him shared a look before they disapparated with Pettigrew between them, Dumbledore left as well, wanted to make personally sure that Pettigrew was locked away safely until a trial was prepared. Dora remained, relaxing and finally going for the hug once the professional aura was gone.

 

"Are you okay? How is Remus really doing?" She wanted to know, squeezing the air out of Regulus' lungs, "I got to Ma last night but she already had your letter. Dad got her to calm down but she's been so shaken."

"I'm fine, would have wished to sleep longer but I'm okay. Remus needs time," Regulus painted her the picture, "He's been angry with the wrong friend for twelve years and unknowingly mourning a traitor for just as long. We'll all need some quiet days now."

 

\--

 

"Is it against the law?"

 

Regulus popped one eye open and focused on the blond whirlwind and the pink haired chaos fussing around his living room, he wasn't exactly sure how this had come to be because all he had wanted was to spent one quiet weekend in his home. And before he realized what was happening he was indeed lying on his couch, allowed to doze around but there were two women pacing around the room, heaping clothes from one corner into the other.

 

Dora had, after another altercation with her flatmate, all but moved into Grimmaudplace officially now, which brought a lot of stuff along and it had been Olivia's idea to sort through her clothes and maybe donate some, surely even wizard societies had places for that. Dora had been ecstatic with the idea, done some research and then invited Olivia to help her, Liv had turned up with clothes of her own, Andromeda had sent some, even Adrienna had done so.

 

It was a charming thought but Regulus didn't understand why it had to happen in his living room.

 

"It's not..."

 

"It's not specifically illegal," Dora ignored entirely that he had spoken up as well to answer Liv's question, sorting through mountains of clothes while talking about Pettigrew's case, Regulus didn't know if it should be alarming that this didn't even hit the top ten of weirdest days in this year for him. This year, which was two and a half weeks young. "The law doesn't forbid the use of that particular spell but it's a little frowned upon, the invasion of one's mind. Those who are able to do it aren't plentiful, it takes skill and a kind of inner silence that not everyone can hold up for long enough."

 

As Dora explained, Liv moved past Regulus and trailed her fingers through his hair, from somewhere deeper in the house Jack was squealing, watched by Kreacher. It was the kind of domesticity that calmed Regulus just as well apparently as total silence with a book did, or any place that wasn't the school this last week.

 

Motivated by the shock that Pettigrew's reveal had brought – and Remus once more handing them the map, still leaving himself the option to get it back for higher purposes – Fred and George Weasley had decided to succumb the school to a prank war that it hadn't seen before in that dimension. Regulus' favourite in the sarcastic sense had been the chocolate frogs that had due to slight miscalculation not exploded into green slime right into Roger Davies' face but instead hit Sarena Rosier which had set about the entire Slytherin House into a revenge thrill and caused Regulus to get the fuck out of there for a weekend.

  
After he had made sure Sarena was not going to kill anyone.

 

"So I should be proud rather than judging?" Liv asked and her face appeared over Regulus' face, causing him to blink both eyes open, smiling up at her upside down face.

"Always," he joked and chuckled when she rolled her eyes and gave him a quick kiss before she disappeared again from view, somewhere to his left Dora snorted.

"He's an overachiever," she pointed out and Regulus was hit by a pair of socks, "He learned when he was thirteen when others still struggle with the simplest disarming spells. And he can block himself from that spell as well, which is a trait that even less wizards and witches have."

 

"You can protect yourself from it?"

 

"It's called occlumency." Regulus answered this time, stretching his arms over his head before crossing them behind it, "You can't protect yourself from someone invading your mind but you can protect your mind from anyone seeing anything in it. All they'd encounter would be a kind of white wall, or whatever color your inner self prefers it to be."

"So it isn't illegal but still frowned upon which is why it won't be used in the trial against this Pettigrew?" Liv wondered out loud and Regulus nodded for her, "It sounds strange, why not use all available measures to get to the truth. There should be someone in your Ministry capable of this, it just sounds like a waste of resources to me. I understand that it invades someone's privacy but those who are guilty should not have to get that choice and those who are innocent should maybe think that giving up that little bit only proves quicker that they are indeed innocent."

 

"Welcome to Slytherin," Dora deadpanned and dropped a hidious green shirt onto the charity pile, Liv turned around to Regulus who grinned at her sheepish smile.

"She'd be no Slytherin," Regulus decided and nudged his chin, indicating for Liv to come closer, he pulled his hands out from behind his head again and pulled her down into his lap with a laugh from her, "Too kind for that, she'd be a Ravenclaw."

 

As if the dark forces had heard his traitorous thoughts concerning his own house, the fireplace shot up green and Marc stepped into the living room in his usual pristine suit, grinning despite the surprised faces blinking at him. He produced a piece of official looking parchment and handed it over to Regulus with a bow, "Fresh from the source. Father thought you might like to see it." Liv stood up again and walked over to Dora so that Regulus could swing himself upright and look over the writing.

 

It was a official missive from the Minister to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.

 

"...hereby declare the search for Sirius Black ended and his case reopened due to recent developments concerning the incrimination of Peter Pettigrew. We have severe reason to believe that Sirius Black is innocent of the crimes heaped upon him in the direct aftermath of the end of the war and the unlawful sentencing by Bartemius Crouch...Wow, Marc, did Fudge sign his resignation already as well?"

 

Marc laughed and sat down after Dora had swung her wand and freed an armchair of clothes, "I ran into old man Rosier on my way out from my father's office, he thinks they want to wait with kicking Fudge to the curb until after Pettigrew is trialed and Sirius is cleared. Let it be the culmination of Fudge's useless office years." They made a fistbump that came from some stupid youthful spurt and Regulus folded the missive copy to show Remus tomorrow once he was back at Hogwarts, the law was complicated, it would still be a few days until this became public knowledge.

 

"Is public opinion often upending the Minister in your world?" Liv wanted to know, folding another dress that Dora had simply discarded over a chair.

"The public opinion shifts the people in the highest circles, corruption does its part as well," Marc painted her the picture, "We don't have elections like the muggles do. Our wizengamot..." Upon Liv's confused eyes, Marc sent a look to Regulus who took over.

 

"Our judges. They propose suitable candidates and then vote, retired members are allowed to ship in as well, and candidate can technically become anyone which is why we end up with many idiots in that position. It's politics, they're not the always the brightest just because they can talk well." And with a sudden pop of a thought in his head, Regulus turned his eyes quickly on Marc, "If Silvan throws in my name, you tell your father to gag him."

 

"Noted."

 

"This seems all so chaotic," Liv huffed and pulled up a white leatherjacket with a hippogriff on its back that was fluffing its feathers. Liv blinked, Marc grimaced and Regulus leaned to the side to catch a brightly flushed Dora's eyes, "What in the devil is this?"

"A mistake," Dora muttered embarassed and quickly snatched the jacket out of Liv's hands, "And yes, it is chaotic but somehow it works. And Fudge would have been less than half as useless if his advisors weren't such assholes." Dora pointed out and then froze when Marc cleared his throat, "Present company's fathers excluded, and not all of them are jerks. Silvan Rosier is decent enough, even with that last name. I just mean Malfoy and Co."

 

"Can we change the topic away from politics? I didn't come here to worry about new problems," Regulus groaned and dropped back onto the couch, in a probably way too dramatic fashion if Marc's face was any indication. "And I'd rather it not be Pettigrew's trial either, I've had enough of that for now as well. If you really wanna discuss yourselves hoarse, why not tell me how I find my brother." It was meant as an utter joke, just something his exhaustion sprouted in cooperation with the headache that was attached to the back of his skull ever since he had seen his brother' devastation in Pettigrew's mind.

 

It was the sole reason on why he hadn't shared that memory with Remus, argued with him about it but remained stubborn. Remus was hit enough, pulled thin with frustration and renewed grief, he didn't need to see Sirius like that.

 

He expected eye rolls and a 'do your own work, Reg' from Dora, maybe a dog treat joke from Marc, he got none of it.

 

What he got was silence and three people lost in thought, halted in their doings in the women's cases and Regulus gaped a little, "Hey, ho, joke, stupid one admittedly but still a joke."

"Is it?" Marc asked him and rolled his head to the side to watch him, despite the bond between Liv and him, Marc was the one who knew Regulus the best these days, followed by Adrienna and Liv, and then maybe Remus. "Is it really a joke or is your subconsciousness finally frustrated enough to let a joke be an actual cry for help? Because I have no trouble lending you some time again."

 

"I can't give you actual help in searching for him because that missive just forbid me in my position," Dora spoke up as well, "but I can certainly help with ideas and whatever inside you need into the auror department." And then this discussion broke out that gave only more proof to Regulus' theory that Liv would be a Ravenclaw, the effortless way she held up to Marc's quick way of thinking and Dora's incredulous ideas.

 

He spent more time staring at her in complete awe than actively joining in because just a month ago she had had no idea this world even existed and now she was helping them find a wizard who was very very too good at not being found and Merlin, Regulus' brain needed a vacation.

 

And then it was Liv of all people who proposed something that seemed like the most genius but at the same time stupidest move of them all.

 

"His wand?" Regulus repeated dumbly, taking a small tarte from the tray Kreacher held out for him now where Jack was down for a nap. "You want me to lay out my brother's wand like some kind of bread crumb to lure him into a trap?"

"You told me a wizard's chosen wand works best for him so I would imagine he would like it back, and it's a great show of trust. You want him to stop evading you? Give him a reason to not fear you anymore." Liv supplied easily enough and Regulus furrowed his brows when her choice of words tickled something at the back of his mind.

 

"Why does this remind me of that story you told me about that feral cat you saved as a child?"

 

"Because it's basically the same tactic," Liv agreed without even a hint of blushing, Marc bit his lips to keep from laughing while Dora didn't hold back from snorting, "As I see it your brother has been without social contacts for twelve years in that hellish prison, and then if your friend's and your guesses are correct, he spent the last six months now mostly as a dog. Maybe treating him like a spooked animal could get you closer to him than seeing him as a troubled man might."

 

"Dora, floo your mother. I think I might have a plan."

 

One that he hated.

 

\--

 

"Are you sure this is what you want to be doing?"

 

Regulus wondered how many times his brother had been asked this question when he had been younger and how many times it had taken until he had grown utterly sick of hearing it. Regulus had no experience to reach for in dealing with people questioning his decisions, absolutely none, Regulus had followed rules, followed orders, followed along the strict and narrow path that had been laid out for him in his youth. He had always been the one directing that questions at his friends.

 

And when he had violently strayed from that path, no one had questioned him because no one had been around to see it.

 

He missed those days a little now where seemingly everyone in his life suddenly wanted to secondguess his every decision.

 

"This is not what I want to be doing, this is what I have to be doing to help clear my innocent brother's name." Regulus grumbled himself through his answer and then stepped forward to open the doors to Gringotts for Andromeda. Ted and Liv were waiting for them with Jack down at Fortescue's, drinking oversweet chocolate while they went to get a wand for a man who might still hex them all senseless with it.

 

If he ever turned up and got it back.

 

Regulus was still most doubtful of that part in the plan though Dora and Remus seemed most believing in it, and even Marc – the traitor – had agreed that it was worth a shot.

 

Within the magical bank, people stopped to look at them and Regulus would have just loved to know what their motivation was now. Was it the fresh reveal of Pettigrew's arrest for handing vital information over several people to Voldemort? Was is the fresh reveal that aside from breaking out of prison, Sirius Black was considered innocent of all crimes he had once been accused of? Was it Regulus' passive aggressive article from last week?

 

Or the usual, 'look, it's the Blacks'?

 

Whatever it was, it was annoying.

 

"Stop glaring at everyone, you already have a reputation that brings you enough respect, don't need to turn it into fear." Andromeda hushed him and smiled into the round enough for the two of them, Regulus growled but let her hook herself under as they approached the main desk. "You've got too much of your father in you."

"I prefer that over mother any day," Regulus snorted and then knocked on wood, "I'm here to see my vault."

 

"Name?"

 

"Regulus Black." The gobling dropped his papers and snapped up straight, immediately waving over two of his colleagues.

"A pleasure to see you again, Mister Black, we'll have someone with you in no time." The goblin assured him and then hissed quick words at the goblings who had come running, Regulus impatiently tapped his foot. "This way, Mister Black, if you please."

 

And there they were, getting a wand for a man who could be hero soon or just madman.

 

\--

 

Upon Regulus' return to Hogwarts and a long calming walk over the grounds in the late afternoon hours, he found four girls and two boys sitting and standing in various stages of nervousness outside his office. Slightly struck speechless by the small crowd, he looked into the faces of Cedric Diggory and Marcus Flint first but both boys gave him nothing but a certain tone of nervousness, especially with Cedric half standing in the shadow of a torch on the wall. Samentha was frowning at the hem of her jacket, picking at loose threads and looking for all the world like she singlehandedly was pissed off enough to go to war with said world.

 

Julienna was biting on her bottom lip and too unsettled to hold his eyes for more than a brief moment, where that was already alarming, Regulus' composure was violently ripped into when he saw the pale faces and red-rimmed eyes of Sarena and Theresa, the latter of which was holding a rather impressive red-swollen right wrist in her left.

 

"What _happened_?"

 

He had made it abundantly clear to Silvan that Stevan was not to turn up in Hogsmeade anymore to harass his sister or harsh consequences would follow but though Sarena looked like a breeze might tear her apart right now, it was Theresa with the signs of rough treatment. It was also her who looked up at him then, "Thomas jumped Ced and me in Hogsmeade, we just wanted to have five minutes alone."

 

Regulus made two steps closer and narrowed his eyes when Cedric's face came into better focus and he immediately grimaced at the cut on the boy's lip and the blossoming black eye. He opened his office door and waved the kids inside, telling them to find a seat while he rushed over into his private quarters and stored away Sirius' wand first before he got healing salves and returned to them.

 

He didn't start pushing for any explanations until he had taken care of Theresa's wrist and Cedric's face and had Dobby bring them all some hot tea or chocolate, suddenly frustration over that insane plan to help Sirius didn't matter anymore at all.

 

"What happened with Thomas?" He wanted to know when the girls had calmed down a little, though Samentha still looked quite like murder. He looked into the round, Flint standing like a sentry at the side of the couch where Julienna and Samentha had taken Sarena into their middle who couldn't even look at him. Cedric and Theresa had taken the chairs, watching him with tired eyes. "You know you can trust me, guys. I would never..."

 

"They call themselves the Dark Circle," Sarena suddenly blurted out with a force that surprised her most of all, judging by how she blinked in stupor for a moment before she looked up to finally meet Regulus' frowning eyes, "And I have enough reason to believe that Stevan is heavily involved."

"What by Merlin's beard is the Dark Circle?" Regulus spluttered, the first time he had heard the term used to describe anything but the rather literal dark circle one could draw on paper.

 

"Julienna and Theresa think that they're remnants of You-Know-Who's followers," Sarena began her explanation quietly, Regulus was truly worried, she was usually the one least affected by anything, a consequence of growing up in a haunted family as the Rosiers now were, "Death Eaters who got away with a pardon like Lucius Malfoy or sympathisers who never took the mark like Julie's Dad." Julienna twitched but still didn't want to truly look Regulus in the eyes.

 

"But you don't think that?"

 

Sarena shook her head and exchanged a look with Flint of all people, Regulus had seen that development with a lot of confusion in the recent two years. Sarena had always gotten along well with her housemates, with everyone really, even if she could be a bit cold at times, her cautious approach to life kept her out of conflicts. Flint on the other side was someone who was usually found right in the heart of trouble, though he had calmed down in the last year, and he'd never caused the kind of trouble that Stevan Rosier or Thomas Fawley had succumbed Regulus to.

 

He had asked when his curiosity was getting a bit too much and sliding over into worry, and Sarena had twitched for quite a bit before she had explained that Flint had the same problem about their chosen loves that she had. The surprising revelation about Flint's sexuality aside, Regulus had understood well, it wasn't done in the pureblood circles that their families were still mostly walking around in to have relationships with the same sex. Silvan would still accept and love his granddaughter if she came home loving a hippogriff but her mother would not accept anyone but a pureblood wizard at her side, and Flint's parents were terrible.

 

They were each other's safety net and had become friends through it.

 

"I think," Sarena began in a voice that was already apologizing in nature before she had even finished, "I _know_ that Stevan is the one leading them." Regulus dropped the empty vial he had still been holding that had held something for Cedric's black eye, the vial shattered to the ground as he heavily dragged a hand down his face. Roughly pulling over a chair, he turned it around and sat down backwards on it, leaning his elbows on the back of it.

 

"Okay, forget the professor, Sarena," he decided then and untensed his whole posture as good as he could, the problem with Sirius was entirely forgotten now, "This is between us now. What is happening? What did Thomas want in Hogsmeade today?"

"Find recruits," Flint answered him and Regulus felt the icy dread rolling up his limbs, "I found him talking to some Fourth Year Slytherins, and he rounded on me with eager eyes once I was close. All the stories you told me about your schooltime, Professor, it's like it was just someone using the same words but actually meaning it."

 

He had lost.

 

The fight he had battled through to save these boys.

 

He had failed.

 

"But it's not the same," Theresa argued and hissed when she couldn't gesticulate as usual with her aching wrist, "They're not crowding together under You-Know-Who's legacy. They're not Death Eaters and I know from enough conversations that Thomas had at home with my parents or Eustace and me that they have absolutely no respect for those who turned their back on the old ways. Because that is how they see a pardon, they don't want those people. It's Malfoy, Avery and Nott and Julienna's father who are trying to seek favor and join, it's not the other way around."

 

Regulus had absolutely no idea in that moment if that was a good thing to hear or not.

 

He was leaning towards option number two.

 

"At the core they hold the same principles," Sarena took over and the look in her eyes told Regulus that he hadn't done nearly enough to protect her from her mother and her brother, that he should have alarmed Silvan earlier, "A pureblood society, magic to those of strong blood, but I have the impression that Stevan doesn't want the mayhem, he doesn't want the mindless murders. What he is fantasizing about is a pureblood ruled magical world, where only those in the Sacred Twenty Eight who kept their bloodline pure and old will get to make the decisions for everyone else. These people don't want to kill muggles and muggleborn, they don't want to punish blood-traitors for their betrayal. They want to _rule_ them, show them how better things would be with the old ways."

 

"Did you hear him saying something like that?"

 

"Heard him talking with Mother over break, he keeps his mouth shut when Grandpa is around but Mother shares his belief, mostly. They were arguing about Unlce Evan a lot," Sarena mentioned and Regulus raised an eyebrow, he knew that one half in the Rosier family condemned Evan and his brothers, the other half idolized them, and so far he had thought that Stevan and his mother fell into the same category. "I know that Stevan has been haunting the attic, it could be that he found something up there, I can't be sure, he's been avoiding me, but he told mother that he suspects that Uncle Evan had wanted out."

 

Regulus froze, could nearly feel his heart stutter.

 

"Stevan voiced ideas that Evan might have been more daring in the fight against Mad-Eye Moody because he wanted out, and well...frankly, death was the only option...I'm sorry," Sarena threw in at the end when she must have seen something on his face, "I know that can't be easy to hear but it set Ma off so violently, I've never heard her scream that much after Stevan called Evan a coward. It's...Regulus, it's really bad, the kind of people that are slipping into the house to have conversations with Stevan or Mother behind closed doors...and always when Grandpa isn't there."

 

"Did you tell him?"

 

"He knows everything. He's the master of the house, the houseelves most of all keep him informed because Mother doesn't understand that his word can overrule hers. The crowd is just really bad and Stevan has been talking about the Dark Circle and all his great plans all through christmas." Sarena took a deep breath, seemingly afflicted by something.

"If Stevan is avoiding you and Thomas only preyed on impressionable Slytherins and his own sister and her boyfriend, why do you look this shaken?" Regulus wanted to know and Sarena looked to Julienna who looked back at her, "Girls, I know this can't be easy and I know how difficult it feels to go against that loyalty to your own blood that gets drilled into all of us from birth. I know how your homes look like, I know how people like your mother think, Sarena, but I need to know what is going on to help you."

 

"I got a Howler," Sarena began, voice going smaller again, and Julienna and Samentha both reached for her hands, "Stevan says I'm not his sister and that he'll cast me out if I continue shaming the family." For a way too long moment Regulus didn't know what to say because the thought was ridiculous. The siblings looked alike and they both looked way too much like Rosiers for anyone to doubt it.

 

And then Theresa told him about the confrontation with Thomas that had quickly gotten physical after Cedric had wanted them to leave, she talked about Thomas trying to talk their parents into joining his ways, dropping the words 'Dark Circle' as well and Regulus was beginning to feel sick.

 

"Julie?" He at last turned to the only one in the room who hadn't yet said a single word, "What's going on at home?" She finally looked at him, despite celebrating christmas with Adrienna in Italy, the girls had been ordered home for appearances' sake for the last days of break while Adrienna was still refusing to return.

"Pa bribed his way into visiting hours at Azkaban, and I have a few good guesses who he has been to see." Julienna knocked the last ground out from under his feet, "It's starting all over again, isn't it?"

 

Regulus wished so dearly that he could have said no.

 

\--

 

Regulus was only half in the present situation with his mind, namely following Remus over the grounds and then waiting in a respectable safe distance until Remus had subdued the Whomping Willow and they could slip inside. The majority of his mind was still reeling from the information the girls had presented to him, information he had immediately and without thinking handed over to Marc as well who had taken the news over Evan maybe having wanted to defect as well just as great as Regulus had.

 

Marc would have a way easier time finding out how much was really going on there, Regulus had pushed himself too far out of that part of society, the first article had been the step he had made onto a path that had no going back. He didn't regret one second of his second life but now it was truly unfitting that everyone knew him to be a defector.

 

There were no great tales of turncoats turning around, even only for show, once you showed your true colors, it was hard to shade them again.

 

Marc had it easier, when you had the name, the connection and a ruthless reputation of keeping neutral and out of any sides, you had a lot more freedom to ask questions.

 

"Careful," Remus' warning rang out just before Regulus could have tumbled down the stairs that went below into the tunnels below the willow.

"Thanks," he grumbled and then ducked down into the tree, arms loaded with clothes and a wand, quintessential parts of a plan he still wasn't so sure about.

 

Yes, Sirius was innocent. Yes, they needed to find him.

 

But Sirius had also spent twelve years in Azkaban knowing he was innocent, knowing that Pettigrew was out there and that no one would believe him. He had seen the rat in the newspaper and read that the traitor had direct contact to the godson whose care had been ripped away from Sirius' hands.

 

Sirius was dangerous right now. He was unpredictable in his anger and his pain, and Regulus was quite convinced that giving such a man his familiar and fitted wand back was inviting trouble into their lives in a caliber that Regulus had had enough of for a whole lifetime or two.

 

'A sign of our trust' Remus and Dora had called it, and two of them had certainly enough optimisn between them suddenly that Regulus needed some blatant pessimisn to keep the whole show from going up in fireworks and rainbows.

 

Sirius was dangerous and no coating of innocence eradicated that.

 

And right now there was a movement forming who maybe were calling themselves the "Dark Circle" which promised absolutely nothing good, especially not under the leadership of Stevan Rosier and Thomas Fawley, if that was true. Regulus had seen the darkness in those two, it had burned so strong that he hadn't been able to diminish it or even lower its flame in all seven years of their Hogwarts time.

 

Stevan had the name, the history, the reputation. Thomas had the charisma, the connections. And both of them had skills, terribly good skills.

 

They were young but Tom Riddle had been young, too, once, and so had Grindewald. James Potter and Sirius Black had been young once when the Order had almost singlehandedly jumped after their whistle for a good time. Some people were born to lead, it didn't matter their blood or their family name, but if that was added on top and a more than questionable state of mind joined in as well, then it was not something to applaud, it was a recipe for disaster.

 

Regulus had seen this once before and fuck it if he was going to let it happen all over again, this time he had means to stop it or at least make a sizable dent.

 

"If you're really that much against this whole thing, then we don't have to go through with it," Remus drew him back out of his head as they walked along the dark tunnel that led right to the Shrieking Shack, Regulus shook his head, "Reg, I'm not gonna do this if you don't have my back." A hand on his arm held him back and Regulus looked up at Remus' tired face, "We've been friends now for years, I'm not gonna let this become a moment where I have to choose between your doubts and helping Sirius."

 

"I have your back," Regulus assured him and then pushed them on again, they had a deadline, the sun was going down in less than an hour and Regulus wanted to be back in the castle by then, bloody map in his hands to watch the nervous wreck that Harry Potter had become. "But I also have my doubts, that's just who I am, Remus. I've thought this through, several times, and yes, I see problem points and yes, I think it is utterly insane to hand Sirius his wand back when he could just as well have lost his goddamn mind in this last decade. But the simple truth is that we need him. We need to take this chance and get him back, get him somewhere safe, get his name cleared and hopefully get him back as the fighter for the light that he once was."

 

"Because there is a storm coming."

 

"There is a storm coming and four days ago it got a name. There is darkness, Remus, and it's coming. All over again." Regulus clarified as they reached the basement floor of the shack, he met light blue eyes with his darker ones, "And I rather have Sirius on my side for once than out there alone. This is a risk but I am taking it for all of our sakes."

 

" _We're_ taking it, Reg. This time you're not alone."

 

\--

 

Remus felt terrible, anxious and unbalanced and like he could burst out of his own, currently furry, skin at any moment, not a good mood to be in when you were a murderous creature only not going on bloody rampages because Regulus knew spells that no one really should and the man inside the werewolf prowling around the topmost room of the shack was in control, not the animal, the man.

 

His gaze kept on drifting over to the chair where Regulus had placed clothes and wand, it weren't any clothes that Sirius had ever owned but they were outrageous enough for him to potentially like them. The wand though was his own, the wand that until a few weeks ago Remus had thought to have killed Peter, the wand that Remus had thought to have belonged to the man who had betrayed James and Lily.

 

So many lies.

 

So many secrets.

 

Finishing up another round, the wolf jumped up on the bed, curled up and laid down with a good direct view of the door. Remus wondered how Regulus had to feel now, unable to see, unable to help but judging by the mess his all star quartet had revealed, it might be that Regulus kept busy with a whole other front of problems that was unraveling.

 

He didn't know how long he spent down on his belly as the need to move and move rose in him and the distant instincts screamed for hunting, the latter he had learned to ignore, the first was a little harder to resist. Muscles were twitching for some kind of action.

 

And then, his ears picked up a distant sound, claws on wooden floorboards, and then the tic tac as clawed paws were climbing up the stairs. His heart was pounding in his chest, body going tight with tension as he slowly got down from the bed, ready on all fours at the foot of it, facing the still closed door.

 

The steps came closer.

 

Closer. And closer.

 

They stopped.

 

Remus stopped breathing.

 

The door opened with a quiet creaking sound, going entirely forgotten when the snout pushed it further open to reveal the large black dog standing behind it, dark eyes being pinned on the far greater white-gray wolf immediately. Amber eyes stared back.

 

For the first time in thirteen years Padfoot looked at Moony and Moony looked back.

 

Neither of them moved, stock still in shock, in memory, in pain and in relief, one scared and still unknowing, one so overwhelmed and burning with need to tell what he couldn't in this form. The wolf whined, begging for forgiveness in the only way he could right now, Padfoot lowered his head, sad and so tired, ashamed.

 

Moony shook off his stillness and padded over to the chair, carefully taking the old familiar wand between his teeth, he turned, presented it but Padfoot remained unmoving, only staring at him, so Moony huffed and Remus praised Sirius for suddenly being too fucking slow on the update. The wolf walked back over to the dog, closer this time, dropped the wand at the dog's front paws, let it roll right up against them and then he waited.

 

It took another moment but then Padfoot looked down, recognized the wand and snapped his head quickly back up again, a tongue came lolling out as the dog gave his version of an overjoyed stupid grin. Remus internally rolled his eyes and then the wolf gave the animalistic counterpart of a yelp when the dog jumped him and tumbled him onto his side.

 

He had his friend back.

 

He hadn't lost all of them after all.

 

He had Sirius back.

 


	8. Act II - A Friend's Comfort - Chapter 2

**Chapter 2 – A Dog's Salvation**

 

Remus woke up warm for the first time in what felt like ages, the soft cotton of his clothes covering him for once under the heavy bedsheets, and he was lying on the bed as well, not just rolled up in a corner, stark naked, freezing. For a brief moment he let himself remain in this safe space between sleep and waking, stretched out his legs, smiled at the feeling of socks.

 

The last time he had been this comfortable on the morning after a full moon's night had been the last moon before James and Lily had gone into hiding, his friends had always made sure to take care of him after he had transformed back into his human skin. Well, James anyway, Sirius had loved sleep too much, especially in canine form. The thought of friends was what woke him fully then, he blinked against the light that assaulted his senses and slowly turned around on his back, he sat up and rubbed a hand down his face.

 

"Thank you," he said out loud though he didn't look around just yet, he knew who had taken care of him and it hadn't been Regulus, he wouldn't return to check on him for another hour at least, judging by how low the sun was still standing, Regulus liked sleep on weekends too much.

"Don't have to suffer more than you already do," his answer came from a roughed up voice from the corner of the room where Regulus had placed the clothes yesterday.

 

Remus shifted around and he met grey eyes that were still so achingly familiar as if it had only been yesterday that he had seen them and not the horrified version from the wanted posters. Sirius was sitting on the chair, the one that had somehow always survived Remus' youth intact, changed into the clothes that didn't fit him, too big on his emacipated body. His face, though sunken in as it was, still looked much more like the young man that Remus had waved goodbye to outside their apartment building in London on the day he had left for another espionage trip to the wolf packs.

  
A trip he had returned from to ashes and despair and betrayal.

 

Sirius had clearly used the return of his wand to get himself cleaned up, his hair shortened a little and taken care of, he looked far from the man screaming on the wanted posters. Gray eyes were watching Remus as if they were expecting him to lunge for his wand and hex him all the ways to next week.

 

"Sirius," Remus did no such things of course, whispering his friend's name breathlessly, part of him still not believing that this was real, that Sirius was truly sitting here across the room from him, after all these months. All these months of anger turning into renewed pain and then shock and hope with the discovery of Peter's true betrayal. "You staid."

"I have to admit, I had no intended plans to stay but the clothes and especially the wand threw me off. How did you notice that I had staid with you?" Sirius wanted to know and the slow raise of one eyebrow was so familiar that Remus could have burst into tears.

  
"There is a Potion, it isn't the cure I had hoped for privately but it lets me keep control when I transform," Remus explained, he pushed the blankets off and carefully set both sock clad feet on the ground, he didn't have shoes with him, Regulus would bring them along because even in control Remus apparently had a hard time to not gnaw on leather when in wolf form. "It's expensive, I would have never in a million years been able to buy it but I..." He hesitated, despite Regulus' own beliefs, Remus himself wasn't so sure if Sirius had really caught onto his brother's survival and return to the good side, "I got lucky, became friends with someone who makes them for me for free."

 

Nothing showed in Sirius' eyes so Remus guessed that his thoughts had run true, Sirius had no idea about his brother, that was gonna be one hell of a surprise.

 

"How well informed are you about current affairs in our world?" He wanted to know next and Sirius pulled up both eyebrows this time, "I mean you are obviously sitting here, clearly not expecting me to strangle you on sight or curse you into an early grave so you gotta know something."

"Would you have done it? Strangled me or attacked me enough to take me down and await the aurors to get me again?" If Sirius' words were in any way accusatory he didn't let it show, sounding more curious than really blaming.

 

"Yes," Remus replied and maybe it still hurt to think like that but he had told himself long ago that he wouldn't hesitate, that he would get revenge for James, Lily and Peter. "I would have," he emphasized and then leaned forward, letting his gaze burn into Sirius' eyes, "before I knew the truth." Sirius froze, the knuckles of the fingers holding his wand were turning white. "Before I went to check on Harry and saw Peter's name on the map, before I confronted him with help and heard what truly happened that night from a source who has slightly more talents concerning Legilimens than me. I know what happened, Sirius, and I am so fucking sorry that I thought you were capable of this. Peter is taken care of now, Sirius, he's never gonna be able to hurt someone, they know he's an Animagus, they took appropriate measures to hold him."

 

Sirius stood up in one rough movement and then stopped again as if he hadn't been sure this was what he had wanted to do but then he took slow small steps towards where Remus was still sitting. Remus got to his feet, too, much slower, limbs still heavy from last night, and they met in a frenzied hug that both of them clung to with a desperate hold. Remus was the one who pulled away after what felt like an eternity, too dizzy and feeling too weak to keep on standing, he stepped back to sit down on the edge of the bed again. Sirius followed, dropped to his knees once he was close, went down like his strings had been cut and Remus gasped, hands flying out to catch his friend's shoulders when Sirius already leaned forward to bury his face in Remus' knees.

 

"I'm sorry, so sorry for abandoning you like that. I should have trusted you, I should have gone to you, not gone after Peter alone," Sirius croaked out and Remus closed his eyes, his throat tight as he swallowed, he bent over and touched his forehead to the top of Sirius' head.

"We both made mistakes, Padfoot, but we have the time now to talk, to work it all out," Remus promised him and his ears, still honed this close after the transformation, picked up the sound of a door that got slammed shut. Tugging and pulling until Sirius was looking at him again, Remus had to hurry this along, knew who was coming, "We can talk as long as we want and as long as we need but not here, I'd prefer to have that conversation where it's comfortable and where there is something to drink that is either tea or just as burning. But there is someone coming and I need you to know whom before he is here."

 

"What are you talking about?" Sirius asked him in confusion and Remus cursed himself for his cryptic babbling but his mind reminded him of the crazed sadness and pain that had come over Sirius after they had heard that Regulus had died. He thought back to how he had panicked and gotten James to get into Sirius' head, how they had then both struggled to keep Sirius contained, to keep him from doing something very stupid. How angry James had been later when he had learned that Sirius had gone to confront Rosier alone to get answers. The day of Regulus' funeral had until then been one of the worst days of Remus' life, the anguish and the guilt that had pulled Sirius inside out. Remus took a deep breath and pulled Sirius' hands up until he could curl his hands tight around them.

 

"In '79 we thought we knew right from wrong but we were blind where it concerned Peter and we were blind where it concerned another person as well. In the end he stood on our side after all, sacrificed himself nearly to give the good guys a chance for the final blow, and since he came back into the public eye, he has set a lot of things into motion to shake up the old ways." His words didn't seem to help Sirius much whose confused face turned utterly non-understanding.

 

"Please don't tell me you're talking about Snape?"

  
"Snape?!" Remus echoed a name he hadn't heard in ages, "Of course I'm not talking about Snape, I don't even know what happened to the old git. No, I'm," he had to get a hurry on, there were footsteps approaching the damn stairs. "Padfoot, I'm talking about your brother." Sirius' eyes went wide and his mouth opened, closed again right away and Remus grimaced when the stairs outside the door squeaked under the weight of a person climbing them.

 

"Regulus...is alive?"

 

The hope that suddenly flamed up in grey eyes it diminished the discomfort in Remus' chest, he smiled and nodded.

 

"He's alive, went through hell but he got through it. He has done so much good, Sirius, wants to do even more. He's been teaching here for far longer than I have, been keeping an eye on Harry for us." Remus knew he was rushing through his words but Regulus would be at that door any second now, he had to be quick about it, "He can explain what happened way better than I can but he defected from Voldemort's ranks and he has been actively working against the lasting circles of them ever since. We've been friends for quite a few years already."

 

It knocked.

 

"Come in, Reg."

 

\--

 

He froze on the stairs when he heard voices talking, Remus being the one he instantly recognized, the other something that tickled at the back of his mind like a faint memory. A memory that let his heart pound frantically while his limbs couldn't move.

 

Six months he had thought about what he would do if he came face to face with his brother, if he would freeze or manage to hex him. And now he had spent nearly a month stuck in figuring out how he would talk to his very much innocent brother, what he was to do now where Sirius had a chance to come back into his life.

 

If he wanted to.

 

Regulus breathed out a little shakily and then pushed himself into moving again, dragging his feet as much as he could to draw this moment out. He shifted the shoes and the cloak he was carrying into his left hand and then raised the right to knock.

 

"Come in, Reg."

 

Following Remus' invitation, Regulus pushed down the handle and then pushed the door open and blue eyes fell on the man kneeling in front of Remus immediately, no looking around, just a straight away eye lock over a distance of maybe ten feet. Silence reigned as the Black brothers stared into each others' eyes for the first time since late '78.

 

Fifteen years they hadn't seen each other.

 

Nearly fourteen of which Sirius had spent believing him to be dead.

 

And judging by the entirely too overwhelmed look in grey eyes, Regulus might have been utterly wrong in assuming his brother had long since found out that he lived in the last six months. Taking a deep breath, Regulus stepped into the room and didn't take his eyes off of his brother as he set the shoes and the invisibility cloak Harry had given him last night still down on the bed.

 

"Regulus..." Sirius had whispered his name as he struggled himself onto his feet, he was dressed in the clothes Regulus had brought yesterday and his wand was resting in a pants pocket, he must have used it already to clean himself up a little.

 

"Hello, Sirius."

 

Out of the corner of his eyes, Regulus could see how Remus grimaced and then reached for his shoes, walking away from them and sitting down on the one chair.

 

"How is this possible?" Sirius wanted to know in shocked confusion and Regulus hated himself for the involuntary twitch in his body when his brother stepped closer, "How are you alive? I risked my neck to get any information over how you had died." He was close enough to set a hand upon Regulus' shoulder then, and still they stared at each other as if they expected the other to dissolve into smoke any second, still Remus did his best to pretend he wasn't there, "Everyone was saying a different thing. Every side seemed to blame the other in different scenarios every day. I cornered Rosier and let him fucking live so he could find out the truth."

 

Regulus swallowed heavily, "That was not of mine own making, I don't know how that happened." He truly had no idea how it had come to be, between Adrienna, Marc and Remus he had been entertained with those ideas over the years, rolled his eyes over most of them, grimaced in horror over others, "And I almost died, it's a very long story, and a complicated one as well."

"It's not really that difficult," Remus showed that he was still there after all and Sirius' eyes flashed over to him, "He defected. He turned his back on Voldemort, stole something very very important and nearly died for it. And now he is taking it up with everyone who is sprouting nonsense about the pureblood ways. Quite _easy_ , Reg."

 

"Why did you disappear?" Sirius breathed out in question the very moment Remus was done and Regulus looked back at him, "Why didn't you come to me? We would have protected you." Regulus gave a weak smile and raised his own hand to be laid upon Sirius' bony shoulder.

"I had to do it alone, brother. For the first time in my life I had to do what I wanted, and I needed to go down that path alone. Most of all to see that I was more than someone's puppet and capable to live outside of someone's shadow." Regulus clarified and his voice was stronger than he felt when something crossed over his brother's face that he couldn't find a name for but then Sirius pulled at his shoulder and Regulus understood that gesture well enough.

 

He reached for his brother as much as Sirius reached for him and then they were hugging for the first time since they were children who were still in the unknown about the divide that Hogwarts would become. "I'm sorry," Sirius said when they pulled apart again and Regulus had to take a deep breath before he could look at his brother's eyes again, "I shouldn't have given up on you."

"And I shouldn't have given up on you either," Regulus gave the sentiment right back and wanted to say so many more things still but the werewolf in the corner cleared his throat.

 

"Can we have this conversation where there is a functioning fireplace, tea and breakfast?" Remus wanted to know with not a small begging note in his voice, clearly eager to get into a comfortable chair and get something warm to drink. Regulus snapped himself out of the daze he had been caught in, he turned his eyes away from Sirius and looked over Remus instead.

"Certainly," he agreed and twitched his wand in his hand to see if there were injuries that might need instant attention, Remus' eyes narrowed at him but he remained silent over Regulus' fussing, "Harry gave me the cloak to get Sirius into the castle without prying eyes."

 

Remus smiled, especially when Sirius perked up and walked over to the bed, reaching out towards the cloak that Regulus had folded inside out so as not to freak himself out while carrying it down here. He almost wanted to look away when Sirius' face shuttered down a little when his hands picked up the cloak but he still had a hard time believing this was actually real.

 

"We should go before the students really wake up," he said once Remus had his shoes on, "My quarters, we're less likely to be disturbed there. I don't have an open door policy for everyone." He couldn't help the little familiar dig in Remus' direction who walked past him just then and shoved him a little. Sirius looked between them, that strange look in his eyes persisting.

 

\--

 

Sirius, the curious asshole he was right back to being five minutes after returning to civilized society, walked around Regulus' personal quarters back in the castle like he owned the place, poking at stuff and looking over pictures while Regulus couldn't decide between glaring and gaping at him. Remus helped himself to tea and whatever sandwiches Dobby had had prepared for them, the map lay still on the table in the corner, showing no students where they weren't supposed to be.

 

"Sirius, won't you sit?" Remus decided to intervene though when Sirius began poking at pictures and Regulus curled a hand into a loose fist, "I believe some circumstances need some explaining." Sirius huffed and sat down on the chair next to Remus, expectant eyes landing on his brother. Regulus saw the moment where he would have to talk, explaining a story he hadn't needed to tell in quite a few years.

 

"Let me start off by asking you what you know about horcruxes?"

 

Sirius blinked and Regulus sighed, pouring himself another cup of tea, this was gonna be longer than expected, and still he started at the beginning and worked himself through to his return into the magical world before skimming over the last ten years. His brother stared, then gaped, frowned and paled in horror.

 

"Why didn't you come to me?" Sirius croaked out when all was out and Regulus kept his eyes on his tea, "Why didn't you come to me before you went to the cave? Or after! I would have helped you! Fuck, Regulus, I would have asked James to stay out of it if that would have been it. You didn't need to do this alone!"

"I had to," Regulus told him camly, slowly looking up again, "And maybe you'll never understand but I had to do it alone, simply to prove it to me that I could be someone on my own. No strings, no puppetmaster, no friends to hide behind."

 

Sirius dragged a hand over his face, looked terribly more exhausted now.

 

"I'm good now, I made a good place for myself and I can do now what I could never do before. Protect people, from danger and their own wrong choices." Regulus insisted and then met his brother's eyes, "There is a lot that happened, and I believe there will be many conversations to come until you may even understand half of it but I'm not the person anymore that I once was."

"I don't doubt that for a second," Sirius agreed with him before shifting his eyes over to Remus who looked happier than Regulus had ever seen him after a moon night. "How did _you two_ become friends?"

 

"Chance meetings, conversations and admittedly," Remus said the last word with a face contorting into a grimace, "there was a lot of joined anger at you and joined grief over friends, even if those were different people on different sides. We understood each other." Sirius still looked like he wasn't entirely sure of what to make of that but he was stopped from saying something when the fireplace flashed green.

 

Marc stepped out of the fireplace and blinked in the next moment at the third figure sitting on Remus' left, hazel eyes flickered over to Regulus who couldn't decide between a shoulder-shrug and a nod and landed somewhere in the middle with something that certainly had to look more like a nervous twitch than any intended gesture.

 

"You could have told me you had guests," Marc caught himself again in the next second though, perfect upbringing to thank, and though he kept on eyeing Sirius still, he also pulled up a chair and sat down. "I better start then with the other news I had, the rest can wait until later. Old man has been called in to sit on the judging committee for Pettigrew, we got all the names now."

"Who will sit point on it?" Regulus leaned forward with interest, he would make sure this wouldn't be fucked up a second time, that rat would go behind stone.

 

"Ah, there is where you'll drop your chin, Reg." Marc chuckled and Sirius and Remus both raised an eyebrow in scary sync, "Bones took a backseat, said she is too personally afflicted." Regulus nodded in understanding and exchanged a look with Remus who inclined his head as well, Sirius frowned at them and their understanding again, Regulus hoped Remus would take over that explanation, he had no desire to get into pissing contests over friends with his brother.

 

They had simply never shared friends.

 

"The Bones knew the Pettigrews closely, they had been friends for a while." Remus explained the reason for Susan Bones' retreat, it was a good move, showed that the Ministry was taking this seriously and wanted to retrieve their honor.

"Who's taking over then if Amelia feels biased." Sirius showed his voice was working still despite the presence of someone he only knew as a member of his little brother's circle of friends til Sixth Year.

 

Marc grinned like the cat who get the cream and focused on Regulus, whose eyebrow gave an involuntary twitch, and he spoke a name that Regulus would have not expected, "Silvan."

"Silvan Rosier?" Sirius stuttered out while Regulus gaped at Marc and Remus dropped back into his chair, Marc smiled proudly, proud of himself for the information he could so easily pull out of his father's nose because the old man liked to hear himself talk.

 

"He hasn't sat judge in ages." Regulus mentioned a little breathlessly, head whirring and spinning with the implications this move had, Silvan never did anything without thinking of the consequences, he always thought four or five steps ahead, he had intentions, he didn't do spur of the moment gut decisions. Marc, as usually intuned to his way of thinking, nodded as if Regulus had spoken out loud, a hand letting fingers tip away on his thigh.

 

"Nothing sets a grander statement over his standing than sitting judge over Pettigrew's trial while his grandson moves to built up numbers against the peace." Marc laid it all out on the table and though Regulus could see that Sirius looked a bit confused over that piece of news as well, he swiped over it for the moment, there was no doubt that Remus would fill him in on everything later.

"So we know now that it's him for sure?" Regulus prioritized that question over explanations to his brother, Marc grimaced, which in itself was answer enough really, he had been more than supportive of Regulus trying to save these kids from just such a fate.

 

"Silvan handed over proof and called for an arrest warrant himself. Whatever you two talked about, Reg, I think it really shook something lose in the old man, he wants to protect his family now. Whatever is left of it anyway, so probably just the girl," Marc said with a little wince, that family had once been so powerful and strong, respected and admired, one generation had possibly thrown all of that away. Something Regulus could very much find in his own lineage.

"Have you heard something from Adrienna?" Regulus threw right in there, worry turning his gut squeezy a little because Adrienna had been silent over her plans post christmas, at the side Remus and Sirius began to whisper.

 

"No but I've looked at the countries and the cities she's been in, the ones she mentioned in her letters or her plans, and I think she's trying to find something." Marc told him and Regulus narrowed his eyes at the weird way of phrasing it, Marc's eyes told him though that it was clearly something to be discussed in private.

 

"I think we're gonna go," Remus proved himself a savior just then, "I believe Harry is gonna combust if he doesn't get to hear if the plan worked or not. And it seems you two have something to work out anyway. I'll tell you before we go up to Dumbledore, Reg."

 

\--

 

Regulus closed the door and whirled around about the very second of the click registering in his ears, like some kind of outside motivation, his eyes zeroed in on Marc who dropped his neutral drilled into perfect blank face and let worry seep into every single inch of it, especially those little wrinkles only visible at the side of his eyes when he was really concerned.

 

"I have no bloody idea where she is, let alone where she is going or what her end goal is." Marc explained in a rushed breath, dragging a hand through his hair, messing it up beyond control and Regulus dropped down into his chair again, breath wooshing out of his lungs, too. Roughed up with emotions as he still was with Sirius' return to the civilized part of the world, his gut was churning with discomfort and bile almost upon the thought that they couldn't reach Adrienna.

 

It was the last thing he wanted now with the girls talking about omnious ongoings at home, he needed Adrienna to bring grown up sense into it and he needed Adrienna back in England to have her anywhere close to where he could keep her safe or at least whisk her away to safety if this truly developed into a bad direction.

 

Which it was seemingly doing by the very second.

 

Marc continued with a sigh, "I've looked at the pattern of her travels though, and it's not as random as one would believe. It's like she has a list that she is running though with her city trips, and she is doing her best to have someone be incapable of following her."

"She doesn't want to be tracked." Regulus added his own thoughts to it and Marc nodded, Adrienna had always be the embodiment of a cunning Slytherin, it had driven them crazy already when they had been nothing more then Second Years playing hide and seek with a girl who was too good at it.

 

But European travel trips in random patterns to dodge tails, it was weird even for her.

 

Despite her skills, Adrienna had always been the least paranoid one of their bunch, Regulus and Evan had covered that with ease, Marc had been the brain and the one least likely to be suspected of rule-breaking and Barty had been the muscle, the one always eager to be the first one in.

 

Adrienna's talent had been exit strategies.

 

"What is she doing?" Marc wanted to know as if Regulus had any idea, she was his friend but most things Adrienna kept close to heart still, too close to her heart, even now where he knew the truth about Julienna's father, Adrienna still refused to speak the man's name to his ears. "Not being in contacting distance in any way, it's not like her. She knows that there is something going on, you know that, I know that. Her husband is planning god knows what, maybe even trying to shove his foot into this Dark Circle," Marc spoke the words like there was something to laugh over it, but then again he had always found the title Death Eater quite hilarious, too.

 

Right until the moment he had seen the mark on Evan's and Barty's arms, had asked Regulus just one question that he had needed to nod to and then Marc had left.

 

"You said you think she is looking for something?" Regulus pushed and lowered his face into his hands, what a complete and utter mess.

"It's the only explanation I can come up with," Marc offered and leaned back in the chair, the fingers of his right hand playing with the cuffs of his sleeve, "Adrienna doesn't do spontaneous city hopping, not while her husband's plotting is seemingly getting her daughters into danger. And before you ask, I swung by her parents and she isn't on any errand for her father, he could only tell me that she wants to be back before the summer starts."

 

"Much good that will do us," Regulus sighed and then dropped his hands again, wishing for something to burn down his throat but it was way too early for that, "I need Adrienna here, in England. She is our best chance of finding something out about whatever Stevan Rosier is doing. Have you found out anything about those ridiculous rumors that Stevan put into Sarena's head?" He changed the topic when the frustration was rearing its ugly head again, he was so tempted to sent Kreacher on an international fetch quest to somehow get a bloody fucking word to Adrienna to find out what the hell she thought she was doing there.

 

"I wish I could tell you that it's all rubbish," Marc began with a tortured sound in his voice that had Regulus absolutely rigid in less than a blink of an eye, "I wish I could say it's stupid and wrong and that she is her parents' daughter, as terrible as that might be in that family of hers." Neither parent was a virtue of kindness and warmth, her father in prison for crimes he had gloated himself in right until he had been carted off to the dementors, and her mother a soulless wispy cold harpie who had only begotten with child twice because society demanded it of her as the Rosier heir's wife.

 

If it wouldn't ruin the girl's heart so much, Regulus would actively wish for her blood to be anyone else's.

 

But it was impossible, it had to be, she looked too much like her father's family.

 

"You're kidding me?" He could only give back to Marc who grimaced and reached for his tea to take a deep sip, stealing himself for words that Regulus could already see he wouldn't like.

"It could be possible, that's the thing," Marc continued when he was done swallowing, "I found neither proof for, nor against it. I have no idea what that despicable boy might have found to get this notion into his head but I can't discredit him either. And that hag who calls herself their mother won't receive me for sure, I'm a traitor in her eyes, as are you. So nothing short of asking Silvan might get us a result."

 

"I can't approach Silvan and confront him with this," Regulus hissed, too much respect for the man who had always been way more approachable than Regulus' own distant father. "I can't just ask him if his family has been harboring secrets because his second son couldn't keep it in his pants, you know how that one was ticking, worse than Sarena's father by a landslide. I wouldn't wish that man's blood on anyone."

 

Marc eyed him for a long moment and then bit his lip so that Regulus raised an eyebrow in a prompt for him to spit it out.

 

"Are you entirely ruling out that she could be Evan's?"

 

"Evan's?" Regulus gasped out in half a hysterical laugh, "Marc, we've been graduated less than a year when Sarena was born." He tried to imagine Evan, hyped-for-freedom Evan with a baby in that post graduation high that he had still somehow carried only days before Regulus had left them all. "Come on, Marc, that's even more ridiculous. Evan couldn't even take care of a plant when we graduated."

 

"I know that we haven't been talking at that point but do I really have to remind you of who was quite busy hiding a friend's pregnancy in those last days of school? Oh, no, it were Evan and you." Marc let the sarcasm flow freely and Regulus winced, lips pulling into a grimace as memories of those weeks flared up. Adrienna had been so incredibly stupid and careless, and that had been Regulus' thought to the whole situation before he had known how careless she had really been.

 

For near three months, Evan and Regulus had spent every free moment taking care of a miserable Adrienna, Regulus because she was his friend and Evan more than ever because he loved her even when he could never have her. They had had her back while she puked her guts out and talked their fellow students into believing that she put on weight because of final exam stress. They let her sleep in their beds when she got scared and as fucked up as it all had been, Regulus sometimes still wished himself back to those days.

 

Mostly in dark moments recently when he couldn't take flight to find Liv's arms and her strength.

 

"Judging by your face and your words," he went on after a short moment of letting his mind drift, Marc watched him intently, "You do seem to believe that Evan might be in the run for a secret daughter, so I am asking you a) why he wouldn't tell me and b) why his family would keep that hidden?" Marc shifted, verbal duels were way more up his alley than any physical fights, though no one had ever called him craven and not come to regret it.

 

Whether it be because Marc's wits had gotten him revenge or Barty and Evan had reminded people why you didn't insult their friends, they had even done that after Marc had turned his back on them.

 

"For a), the simplest answer would be that he didn't know himself until the girl was born, which as I hopefully need not remind you happened after you gave yourself that long vacation." Regulus rolled his eyes in answer to Marc's reply, "The most hurtful answer would be that Evan didn't care, either about his friends knowing or about the baby."

 

_"Do you ever think about it? A wife, children..."_

 

_"Bloody beard, Reg, I'm seventeen. We haven't even fucking graduated yet, let me get a taste of freedom first, let yourself get a taste for it before you shackle yourself down with a bloody family."_

 

"To answer b), in my eyes the most believable answer would be the mother was not someone they found suitable, which I know," Marc raised a hand when Regulus made to interrupt him, "is highly unlikely considering Evan's...preferences but stranger things have been known to happen. Case in point, Adrienna sleeping with the enemy while still in school and therefor right under Evan's paranoid little nose. They might just as well be other options, the Rosiers have always been a strange sort, who knows what might have been going on back then. I don't know, I was too busy keeping my father from being murdered. Which brings me right back to asking Silvan..."

 

"And I keep telling you no."

 

"So what will it be then, Reg?" Marc hissed at him in a rise of rare frustration, Regulus didn't take it personal, Marc felt the same helplessness as he did, "I'm out of ideas and I'm even more out of strings to pull at. We don't have a reach into that world anymore, Reg, as good as that is for our continued capability to draw breath, we are blind. And even if Adrienna turns up tomorrow, I am more than reluctant to let her turn spy, she's got something to hide from them, something that if revealed will not only put her at the end of a wand but your goddaughter, too. We need someone else."

 

Regulus tapped his fingers on the armrest of his chair, turning his face to stare into the flames in the fireplace.

 

"I'll find someone."

 

\--

 

"Could you possibly be so kind as to remove your nails from my wrist?"

 

"Sparcely believable that you even feel that below that coat."

 

"Whatever is that supposed to mean?"

 

"It means that..."

 

"Shut up," Regulus growled and Adrienna and Marc snapped their mouths shut as he pressed the button for the elevator and set them into motion to get to the courtrooms, "I cannot believe that the two of you cannot be in each other's company for five minutes without immediately going for each others' throats. We're beyond thirty, grow up."

 

Some people in the elevator sent them looks and Regulus glowered right back at them, it was two days now since the public had been made aware of Pettigrew's imminent trial and that Sirius Black had been brought to safety as was due to his innocence. And the looks and the whispers were once more driving Regulus crazy, especially because Sirius was stuck inside Grimmaudplace for the time being until his name could be cleared and though Dora tried her best to cheer him up, it was not the best arrangement.

 

"What has you so testy today?" Adrienna had the nerve to ask when she had turned up out of the blue on Marc's doorstep two days ago as if nothing was edging them closer to a bloody storm in the darkness.

"He is introducing his brother to his girlfriend tonight," Marc pointed out completely unhelpfully and unwanted, Regulus wished the elevator would go faster, once they were down in the courtroom corridors, Marc and Adrienna would remember that they were proper raised members of society.

 

"I hardly believe that there could be something to be nervous about," Adrienna huffed and fiddled with her coat again, she had been complaining non-stop about the weather outside, "Sirius is not someone who will be judging him for his chosen life partner, and she is a wonderful woman who will not cower in front of him, least of all now where he is all skin and bones, all bark and no bite."

 

Regulus bit down on his lips to keep from laughing, remembering this morning, he had returned from Hogwarts for one weekend on Friday afternoon to attend Pettigrew's trial, several Seventh Years ordered to keep an eye on the girls back at school. Remus would appear only for the trial itself to give his statement and Sirius was ordered by Shacklebolt to stay put, Dora a reluctant babysitter.

 

When Adrienna and Marc had turned up at Grimmaudplace this morning to fetch Regulus, it had been Sirius greeting them in the living room and despite his promise to be nice, he had immediately started a snarking contest with Adrienna that he had lost by a landslide if his face had been any indication once Regulus had come down.

 

"Can we please focus on the situation at hand instead of my private life?" Regulus hissed at both of his friends as the elevator finally rucked to a stop, he wrenched open the door and stalked down the corridor with Marc and Adrienna hurrying to follow. As expected they dropped the ever annoying mothering and slipped into the blank faced purebloods they had been raised to be, Marc greeted a few faces, Regulus nodded to others and then they were entering the public courtroom where people were still talking and standing about.

 

"Regulus!"

 

Their attention was drawn to the left where a tall man with whitened blond hair was stepping down from the gamot stand, robes a dark red, whiskers curled to perfection. Silvan Rosier was a man who was noticed without raising his voice, he drew attention in an easy natural-flowing way that Regulus had in the past seen so easily continued in his youngest son.

 

"I'm happy to see you here so early, means I get a chance to talk to you yet." Silvan greeted him with a strong handshake and then turned to his shadows, "Mister Selwyn, as always a pleasure to see you." Marc inclined his head and shook the offered hand as well, so that Silvan was left to turn to a smiling Adrienna who looked like she was debating a curtsy, "My dear Adrienna, you need to come around for tea again."

 

"I'm sure my travels will allow that again soon," Adrienna took the embrace with a bright smile and fully ignored the deadpanning stared of annoyance that Regulus and Marc sent her, she had kept absolutely silent on the matter of her trips to them. "I'm sorry that we have to meet again under such circumstances, these last weeks couldn't have been easy for you." Adrienna went on in a lowered voice after they had pulled apart again, no one paid them any mind really but Regulus could still see how guarded Silvan kept his pain.

 

"Stevan made choices and I made my own," Silvan told them silently and resigned, "He chose the wrong men to idolize when better ones had been right there," and no one pretended to not see how Silvan glanced at Regulus then, "His fate is in the hands of the aurors now, something that I trust these days more than I did in the past. Wrongs will be righted today and I have hope that we will set a precedence for others who think they can deceive us. How is your brother, Regulus? Miss Bones is working hard on redeeming his name."

 

"He's bored," Regulus said with a long sigh, "He doesn't react well to being caged inside, especially in a home he once ran away from. He is looking forward to regaining his freedom as much as I am."

"Understandable," Silvan hummed and Regulus followed his look to the right where bright blond hair revealed the entrance of Lucius Malfoy deep in conversation with Cornelius Fudge, "Time is ticking," Silvan commented the whole thing and then looked back at them with those sharp green eyes, "We've got a storm coming in, only question that remains is if it will roll over us or if we can make it one of our own making, and we can use someone like your brother to ensure it will be the second choice. Take your seats now, justice needs to send the right man to Azkaban finally. Are you ready, Regulus?"

 

"I am."

 

Silvan waved them off and though Adrienna and Marc watched him strangely they let Regulus get away with that cryptic last question, he hadn't exactly told them everything about this day. They found themselves some good seats and greeted Remus when he sat down behind them with some people that Regulus very vaguely recognized from his school times, though he wasn't sure about Emmeline Vance until Marc greeted her with a bright smile.

 

"The girls are fine," Remus said once Marc and Vance were in a catching-up conversation, Remus leaning forward to keep his voice low, Adrienna and Regulus kept their eyes ahead of them, "They've figured out your scheme within the first hour flat though, Reg, so do prepare for an argument over being too overprotective. Before I left, I got to keep Rosier from hexing Wood and Flint into the next month."

 

"The Rosiers have always had a pendant for too much paranoia," Adrienna quipped in and Regulus glanced over to her and that strange look in her eyes, "They don't do well with eyes watching them from the shadows. I told you, Reg, you're gonna drive Sarena up the wall with it." Regulus grumbled to himself for a moment and ignored Adrienna's smug smile.

"How is the real moopy teenager?" He wanted to know from Remus instead and earned himself a snort, around them people began to settle and court slowly set into motion.

 

"He's counting the hours."

 

That sounded about right.

 

Silvan called for order in the hall and the assembled crowd went quiet as they led Peter Pettigrew into the interrogation chair, chained him in. Regulus could basically feel the spells surrounding the man, no one was taking any chances today. Shacklebolt and Dawlish remained standing a step behind the chair and Silvan began the trial with reading the accusations.

 

Adrienna's elbow in his side snapped Regulus' attention away from Pettigrew's blank face, "The man sitting behind Marc's father," Adrienna whispered and Regulus carefully let his eyes flicker over the crowd, he still recognized Corban Yaxley easily, "He hasn't been out much since he got pardoned." Adrienna whisper-hissed, "Bit of a coincidence that he turns up again the second there is talk about a new dark movement, isn't it?"

 

"Marc?"

 

"A little bit of conversation won't harm anymore," Marc agreed from Adrienna's other side, "He's the only one aside from Malfoy I can see though. What do your eyes tell you?" Regulus used the still on-going list of crimes to observe the faces around him but he had to agree with Marc, aside from Malfoy and Yaxley there wasn't a single soul of former Death Eaters present.

"They're scared Pettigrew might talk," Regulus concluded and for a brief moment caught Lucius' eyes from across the hall, "They're afraid time let them forget something."

 

"Do they know it was you in Pettigrew's head?" Adrienna asked as a more pronounced hush fell over the room when Silvan drew to an end and locked eyes with Regulus, he gave a barely visible nod to the older man.

 

"They will now."

 

"The gamot calls its first witness to the stand. Mister Regulus Black."

 

\--

 

"Mister Pettigrew, you are hereby sentenced to a lifetime in Azkaban. Due to the severity of your flight risk, your wand will be destroyed in the direct aftermath of this trial and we will ensure matters to strip you off your magical abilities. And let this day be an example to those who mean to deceive the minds of our society, those who have wronged the law will be found and prosecuted in full extent and without mercy. Take him away."

 

\--

 

Regulus laughed when he stepped back into Grimmaudplace and found Dora stumbling out of the living room barely a breath later, tongue twisting while she demanded to know how it had gone. Sirius appeared more dignified from behind her and Regulus waved for Remus to give them the news, this was definitely something he was more personally involved than Regulus.

 

He clapped a hand to his brother's shoulder for a moment but then went up into his study, sinking down into the chair with a long sigh. Regulus kicked off his shoes, unknotted his tie and opened up his shirt, he let a few minutes pass of him just leaning back with eyes closed, breathing in the wonderful silence of his home.

 

When his mind was pleasantly quiet again Regulus summoned himself a thick picture album from the shelf, stuck in nostalgia as he was thanks to the trial, he might as well wallow in it a little bit longer. The album had come from Adrienna who had despaired at the state of Regulus' picture collection and snatched them away to make him a real album.

 

It was soothing and not hurting when he carefully flipped pages, smiling over stupid children and moody teenagers. Regulus had been such a terribly skinny kid with incredibly large eyes that had always made him look a bit sad on pictures, even if he was laughing and being truly happy, and compared to Barty and Evan he had always looked like a twig anyway. Both of them honored with beautiful perfect looks from the moment they had been born, even Marc had gotten that shot into attractiveness over the course of one summer, Regulus had still been awkward when he had gone into his death.

 

Only on a broom, there none of his friends had ever been able to have one over him, Regulus mused as his finger traced over a picture of him mid-game, who knows who had taken it, maybe Marc, Adrienna had never gotten Quidditch, even when three of her closest friends had all played. So much he had always been able to forget when he had ridden that broom and chased after that golden flicker, even now as a teacher it erased his worries for a bit to watch the students play.

 

"What you did today was foolish," Sirius' voice broke through the silence around him a good while later and Regulus smiled down at the picture he had been watching, Adrienna wearing an elegant yellow dress and them, the boys, all in black robes, taken at some formal event in their world back then. Marc was distracted by something off camera, Adrienna was twirling on Barty's hand, laughing over whatever he was saying at her with a grin and on their left Evan had an arm around Regulus' shoulder, smirking in smug confidence while Regulus' own smile was definitely more on the insecure side.

  
"Though I can't help but think," Sirius continued and despite all better knowledge Regulus snorted, still keeping his eyes down, "that it was completely intentional, so in light of this reformed brotherhood, I feel inclined to ask if you're really sure you know what you're doing." At long last, Regulus looked up, found his brother leaning against the closed study door. "I'm not judging, or I am trying very hard not to be judging, call it curious instead."

"Ever since I came back I wanted one thing," Regulus began quietly, his mind still half caught in that night of decadence so very long ago, "To save others from doing my mistakes, to prevent another generation of purebloods, half-bloods and muggleborn to fall into the same traps ours got locked into. And I failed."

 

It stung.

 

Just as harsh as every other time he had carried that thought now.

 

Sirius frowned at him, pushing himself off the door to take a few hesitant steps closer, they were still working on figuring out how to act around each other comfortably again, "Because of two students? You consider this whole endeavor a failure because two of your former Slytherins are idiots and chose to built up another evil gang?" His brother's voice lacked the mocking which was probably the reason on why Regulus felt urged to lower his gaze again, an earnest Sirius hit too many raw points in him, "Or is this a matter of who exactly they are that makes this a failure?"

 

Sirius sank into the chair in front of the desk, the last time they had sat like this, they had played at being important grown ups and Regulus' feet had hung a foot over the ground.

 

Regulus had to make a choice now and it was fairly easier than he would have expected, they might still edge around each other because they had been enemies for so long and his brother had thought him dead for far longer but Regulus wanted to repair this relationship now where he had the chance. And this was a topic that he couldn't talk about with many people, it hurt too much for Adrienna, it hit too much anger in Marc. Dora only knew the past from stories, she had been too young. Liv would listen to him for hours and try to understand but she didn't know the people and was still getting to know this world, and Regulus already worried her enough with nightmares, he didn't want to add to it. Remus knew the people and the world but it was still different, he had only known the people that Regulus missed as the enemy.

 

Sirius though knew both sides of the coin, and his comment in the shack about him seeking out Evan to get confirmation over how Regulus had died, it only proved that, so Regulus brought a hand up to cover his face, setting his elbow down on the desk so he could lean into said hand.

 

"I failed twice then," Regulus weighed his words and let two fingers tap away on the wooden desk, "I failed Evan when I didn't save him, and now I failed his nephew and another kid because I can't stop them from turning into a new Grindelwald."

 

"Did it ever occur to you that this isn't your task? That these grown men have parents who should have raised them better? Families who should have seen this happening? Friends who shouldn't have encouraged them blindly? Reggie, this is not your fault." Sirius emphasized and Regulus dropped his hand, glaring a little for the unwelcome nickname, he didn't get to use that one. "After everything I've heard, you have let miracles come true. You saved dozens of Slytherins and narrow-minded Ravenclaws from blindly stumbling into whatever their still thickheaded parents had planned for their evil pureblood futures. A hand full of graduated students swept away by the stupidness of two young men who think themselves the next dark wizards against more than a hundred former students who are making a good life for them. Why is that failure?"

 

_Because Evan was the first who ever believed in him_

 

_Because Evan taught him what confidence was._

 

_Because Evan saved his life on more than one occasion._

 

_Because Evan had never given up on him._

 

_And Regulus had._

 

"Evan is dead, Reg."

 

"Thank you for reminding me, I might have just forgotten," Regulus snapped a little testy and Sirius immediately raised placating hands, not in the mood for a fight for once. "I know that he is dead but your pot is just calling the kettle blacker than it already is. Look me in eyes, Sirius, and tell me convincingly that you are not in the very same position I am. You feel guilty, too, for the exact same reason, just with different people. James is dead, too, and yet here you are, blaming yourself every single second over not having been able to protect Harry Potter thus far. Don't think you get to fix my life."

 

"I'm not trying to fix anything," Sirius held against it, easily, as if he hadn't been avoiding people and socialising for six months after his prison break. "I'm just here to tell you that you need to expect to be punched if you lay out verbal attacks, and trust me I know what I'm talking about." Regulus had no troubles believing that, Sirius had always been the kind to attack first, ask questions later, one of the reasons why Regulus had always wondered how someone like Remus was not going crazy at his side.

 

"I know what risks I am taking. I've been aware of that for far longer than you can imagine. Do you think I had it easy in Voldemort's ranks with a brother who was building himself up as the golden figurehead in the Order? You really think I was safe because I was young, plastered with the oldest pureblood name in the world and not mouthy?" It was out before Regulus could help himself, internal controls a little too weak after the morning he had had, the last thing he wanted was a fight now, not a couple of hours before Olivia was coming around with Jack.

 

He sighed and closed his eyes, shaking his head when his brother spoke his name very quietly, "Just...not now." He talked himself out of it, opening his eyes again and meeting Sirius' gray gaze, "I can't do this right now. We need to have this conversation, I know that but..."

"Hey, it's okay. All I meant to achieve by coming here is for you to understand that I'm here if you do need someone to talk about this shit. I know you got two of your old buddies back, and I'm glad that that's the case," Sirius appeased him, restless hands reaching out to spin one of the artifacts around until Regulus stopped it with a quicker hand and a glare, "Contrary to most, except for maybe Greengrass, I've known Evan long before he became a sucker for dark wizards, and I know how much he meant to you."

 

No, he didn't.

 

No one but Liv knew how much Evan had truly meant to Regulus.

 

"And you're not alone," Sirius prompted him to look back at his brother's face again, "You wanna drown in guilt for a while, then do bit, but not alone. Everyone here has something to carry nowadays. And whatever is to happen with this Dark Circle, get it into your head that I won't let you fight that battle alone." Regulus nodded and Sirius excused himself again, leaving Regulus to dive back into the happily smiling faces in the album.

 

Another page turn brought him upon one that he had considered a favourite ever since he had first seen it. Taken upon the Hogwarts grounds in the beginning of Fifth Year when they had still been five. Marc had definitely taken the picture because at the beginning of every loop there was a hand waving into frame to get Barty's attention and the family ring on it was unmistakable. Adrienna was fussing with Barty's hair which had him constantly running away from her and out of frame, Adrienna right on his heels. Which left only two boys in the picture, Regulus sitting with his back against a tree, a book hiding half his face, and Evan dozing away with his head propped up on Regulus' legs.

 

Peace.

 

Those days had been peace.

 

And a heart not understanding what it wanted.

 

"I'll stop them," Regulus spoke softly to the face smirking at him from another picture, a grin that turned into a laugh, "And if I can't, I won't let them ruin the girls' futures. It may be too late for your nephew, Evan, but not for your niece." He promised and then closed the album, sending it back onto the shelf with a flick of his wand as he caught sight of the time. He would throw in a bath before Liv came over, and that visit would be entertaining enough to drag him away from the worries for one evening.

 

_\--_

 

_"Wake up, come on, Reg, wake up."_

 

_A warm hand on his face and a firm hand on his shoulder._

 

_"Reggie, wake up, it's just a dream."_

 

_Regulus gasped himself awake with a lurch and half a whimper, struggling upright and managing only because of the hand at his shoulder helping him. The curtains around his bed were still drawn close, giving the fake image of privacy but the boy sitting on the edge of his bed whispered a few spells, a small light rushed to the canopy of the bed and the other two assured that they wouldn't be overheard._

 

_Regulus didn't get aware of how much he was shaking until Evan set his wand to the side of the pillow and frowned at him, worry written into every line of his face. "Are you okay?" Evan wanted to know, no longer whispering, the hand on Regulus' shoulder squeezing and then its thumb stroking in small circles, "You've been whimpering and crying out for help again." Regulus took a shaky breath and dropped his face into both hands, pressing fingertips into his temples, "Reggie?"_

 

_"It's nothing," Regulus tried to evade though he could still see those dead eyes staring back at him and hear that mocking laughter ringing out in his ears, "I'm fine." He wasn't fine, he hadn't slept well in days and the pressure mounting higher and higher around him since this summer was choking him. And now his dreams were torturing him with pictures of his dead father while his brother laughed and laughed and did nothing. His cheeks felt wet and he angrily wiped his hands over his face, not able to meet green eyes._

 

_"Scoot up and lie down," Evan ordered and Regulus was too tired to protest or complain or even question something, all he wanted was to sleep. He lied down and Evan followed suit, lying down on his side and throwing an arm over Regulus' chest that Regulus felt somehow compelled to clutch at like a anchor in this storm in his head, if Evan found it strange he didn't let it be noticed. "Do you wanna talk about it? It hasn't been this bad yet, you were begging for help, Reggie." Evan's hand flexed when Regulus' fingers pressed even tighter against his lower arm and Regulus could definitely feel those green eyes frowning at him in gut deep worry._

 

_"I'm okay."_

 

_"You're not okay," Evan insisted, shifting a little to wriggle his other arm under Regulus' head, becoming a warm beacon against his neck, "Tell me what's wrong. If they're pressuring you again at home, I'll sick my father..." Regulus shook his head, the last thing he needed now was to have Silvan Rosier come down on Orion Black, "Has your brother been bothering you because I can assure you, Barty and I are prepared to..." Another headshake, Sirius had been pretending perfectly that Regulus didn't exist since the start of this school year, going so far as to have Regulus caught in his first Marauders prank ever and Barty ready to commit murder. "Talk to me. You're not alone, you don't have to do this alone."_

 

_He would blame it on too many sleepless nights and too many vicious nightmares later but in that moment as words failed him completely and his father's dead eyes turned into those of his friends in his mind, Regulus dropped his hold on Evan's arm and curled onto his side to bury his face in his best friend's neck. He cried quietly, he always had, never a sound from little Regulus. Evan was still for only a breath, then he wrapped one arm around Regulus and set the other to the back of his head._

 

_"Whatever happens, whatever comes, whatever they'll still throw at us, I promise you I'll never turn my back on you. I won't leave, Reg, I won't. They'll put us into the fucking ground together still. I'll protect you, from all of them."_

 

\--

 

"Hello!"

 

Regulus snapped his head up from his book and then scrambled up from the armchair when he heard steps on the stairs that were too heavy to belong to Dora. Liv had come early, which was so highly unusual for her, she appreciated being right on the dot when a time had been agreed on but there she was now, half an hour early, talking with Kreacher right around the corner.

 

Remus had left an hour ago while Regulus had fallen asleep in his bathtub, back to school for him to prepare whatever terrible creatures his father had dug up in the backyard this time. Forget Death Eaters and any Dark Circle, Lyall Lupin was scarier than all of them together, calling things pets that others only saw in nightmares.

 

"Hello, darling," Liv greeted him with a bright smile and a yawning Jack on her hip, just woken up from afternoon nap, Regulus eagerly reached for him, grinned like a lunatic probably over clumsy hands wrapping around his neck and a still too drowsy head flopping back against his shoulder, "He fell asleep in the car again right away," Liv told him as he leaned down to kiss her, "If we can't get him moving soon, we're gonna regret that tonight."

 

"I think that can be solved," Regulus promised her and then turned them around, Sirius had stopped at the end of the stairs and Dora had since managed to come down as well, "As shocking as this might be, Liv, I want you to meet my brother."

"The former mass murderer," Liv began with a smirk that had Sirius' smile turn a little shaky for a good moment as Liv approached him with the poise of a snake ready to strike, Regulus couldn't help the broadening of his grin, "I don't make it a habit to call meeting criminals joyful but this occasion does call for a special exception. It is a joy to meet you, Mister Black."

 

"Sirius, please," Sirius insisted and shook himself out of his little stunned surprise over Liv's greeting, shaking her hand and going back to charming smile when Liv insisted on him calling her by her first name as well. Regulus shushed them into the living room and let Liv ask her many questions, laughing not only once when Sirius viewed Liv with stunned eyes, a bit lost for words even, she really was amazing. He busied himself with coaxing Jack awake until he was slipping off his lap and rushing off to find Kreacher or toys.

 

"I must say I didn't know what to say when Regulus turned up on my door to tell me his brother had been framed, not a few weeks after he had told me that the man they're skimming the country for is his brother." Liv chuckled and Regulus leaned his arm behind her on the couch, "It's an interesting family for sure."

"We try our best," Dora laughed and swept them all along, the whole ease in the situation was setting the last remnants of Regulus' mind to rest.

 

Sirius quickly refound his tongue and quipped back and forth with Liv, Dora joining in then and now while Regulus was happy and comfortable in keeping silent to watch them. He hadn't understood why it was so important to him to have Sirius and Liv get along, why it felt so integral to his life when he hadn't given a damn about what his brother was thinking about his life since he was ten.

 

So much had changed though, and he wanted this family to be just that, a family now, and maybe half of the people in his family weren't related to him but he didn't want to miss any of them anymore. Blood had never taught him loyalty in the first place, or comfort or strength, let alone love. Sirius and him had both learned that from other people, other families, and they could use that now to let the Black family become something again.

 

Respected, known and if necessary feared by the right people.

 

"BIRD!"

 

Jack's yell interrupted the whole peaceful mood when the little boy came barreling into the room, eyes wide and hair sticking up worse than Regulus had ever seen it on a Potter. Jack scrambled up onto the couch and then climbed over his mother to squish himself into the non-existent gap between Regulus and Liv, Sirius had halted mid story and raised an eyebrow.

 

"We don't like birds right now," Liv explained and tried to get Jack from kicking her, "I'm not sure how it started, I'm blaming my Dad." She explained and with Regulus and her taking a leg each, they could gently pry Jack out of hiding and onto his mother's lap. "Sweetie, the birds are more afraid of you than you are of them."

 

Regulus sent Sirius a look to stifle any comments, they had known their numbers of mean owls who did not fear bloody anything, least of all small children but that was not what they needed right now, instead he called for Kreacher.

 

"A ministry owl, Master," Kreacher explained, holding out a cookie towards Jack who let that eradicate any unwelcome bird meetings, wonderful sweet attention spans of children, "A letter has come for Mister Sirius." No eyes swept to the man sitting in the chair behind him, Kreacher was very good at holding grudges, diving into them and ignoring people. As long as they weren't strangling each other, Regulus didn't care though, Kreacher and Sirius would never get along.

 

Regulus held out a hand and Kreacher snapped the letter into it so that Regulus could then hold it out for Sirius to take, it was a bit childish this whole ignoring business but Regulus had seemingly more important problems to deal with than this. He gave his brother a moment to read and only then asked, "What does it say?"

"They set a date for the hearing, three weeks from now. Kingsley writes he thinks it will only be a formality," Sirius said and let the letter disappear again.

 

"I'll still get you a lawyer," Regulus mentioned and then raised a hand when Sirius opened his lips again, "A proper respected one, not one of your old Order buddies. I have no doubt that Silvan will be able to recommend one."

"I'm not sure I want a lawyer recommended by old Rosier, he's never been my biggest fan." Sirius grouched and Dora snorted, she had lured Jack over and was in the process of trying to negotiate a piece of cookie from him.

 

"Silvan has always been _my_ biggest fan, so being yours was ruled out on principle back in the day," Regulus reminded them both and smiled when Liv leaned against him, "But he'll help now, he's aware more than others what you can achieve in the fight for the good side."

"I have to dig in there," Liv interrupted with a small gasp that told Regulus she had just remembered something that amused her, "Some of the stories I heard from people about you in the first war, they cannot possibly be true."

 

"Is it the flight in underwear one or the outnumbered by six one? They're both entirely true," Sirius smirked in proud gloating and Regulus rolled his eyes, everything Sirius had ever done sounded a little bit like stories made up by a drunkard. It was no wonder that Marc's order issues always became a little more pronounced now when Sirius was in the vicinity.

 

"I meant the one with the turtles?"

 

Sirius broke out laughing and Regulus needed a long moment to get his mind to connect turtles to any stories he had heard from Remus over the years, when it clicked he groaned and facepalmed.

 

\--

 

"You've been a bit more quiet today than usual," Liv said casually when she uncurled her braid in front of the mirror in the evening, sweatpants low on her hips, shirt revealing one shoulder where the collar was so worn out. Regulus lazily watched her from the bed, caught her questioning eyes in the mirror, "Is that something I should be concerned about or is it just the remnants of the trial this morning?"

 

"Something in that trial brought up some unpleasant memories," Regulus confessed to her and also immediately frowned over his words, "No, that's not true. It's not the memories that were unpleasant, it's the guilt that comes with them now." Liv furrowed her brows and turned around, hair tumbling down over her shoulders, framing her face in the dim light of the two candles still burning bright, "My friends...they weren't good people in the eyes of the law but they were to me and..."

 

"And you feel guilty because you got out and they didn't," Liv easily took the words from his lips as she slipped into bed next to him, pushing him back down into the pillows with a gentle hand, "Most of all you feel guilty that you may never know if those rumors about Evan wanting out were true or fabricated or just simply fake." He turned his head to the side or at least wanted to but Liv reached for his chin and pulled him back to her, "Hey, don't be ashamed. Just because some of your friends did terrible things doesn't mean you're a terrible person, let alone that you're to blame."

 

"Every single time I think that I finally found a way to move past this the world proves me wrong," Regulus admitted silently and then groaned, rolling onto his side to hide himself from everything against Liv's chest.

"We can't run from our pasts, and we shouldn't have to. The Death Eaters Barty and Evan are not what you are carrying in your heart, it's your friends...it's your first love, you can't just erase something like that." Liv told him gently, fingers carding through his hair, "They helped in you becoming who you are today, and I'm glad for that."

 

"I love you," Regulus mumbled against soft skin, nosing gently at an exposed collarbone, one arm sliding around Liv's hips, "I love you so much. I love that you understand me, I love that you can read my mind when I can't even see the sense myself. I love that you take me for who I am, with cracks and scars and all." Liv hummed and pushed him back just enough to catch his lips for a kiss, her hands slipping under his shirt.

 

"You can always talk to me," she insisted softly when they broke apart again, foreheads resting against each other, breaths mingling, "Remembering the past is not a bad thing, just make sure you don't get lost in it and to come back to me." She smiled and he got a little lost in her eyes, and it was surely that combined with tiredness and his overall emotional up-and-down of the day that prompted him to blurt out the following.

 

"I would love for you to move in."

 

Liv blinked at him and then gaped.

 

Regulus stared right back at her until his mind whirred into place, everything locking together and making so much goddamn sense and his heart swelled with warmth at the sudden idea. He sat up while Liv remained propped up on her side, keeping her eyes on him.

 

"You've been complaining non-stop about your landlady recently and how much you would dread finding a new place in these times. And my place is closer to your work, closer to your parents and we have really good schools in the area, too. The park right across the street. You won't fall in need of a babysitter, not with Kreacher in the house, and I assure you he would love it. My brother will find his own place once his name is cleared, redecorated or not this is never gonna become a home for him again. If you're here I can come over for the night if things at school look calm, we'll see more of each other. And I'd know that Jack and you are safe." The last thing came out as a whisper because though they had talked about the risk already that put Liv and Jack in danger if someone found out about them who wanted to cause Regulus harm, it had never felt so real as it did now with the Dark Circle looming like a storm cloud in the distance whose danger potential you couldn't grasp yet.

 

If this storm came and crashed over them then he would know Liv and Jack safe in Grimmaudplace while he fought because he had no intention of hiding away, not again.

 

"You're really serious," Liv whispered, slowing sitting up as well, a hand reaching out for his, Regulus pulled it up to his face, kissed the inside of her wrist, "I...yes. If you're really sure then yes." They smiled at each other and Regulus was brimming with joy, he tumbled them back onto the mattress and the laugh that escaped Liv's lips quickly turned into a moan.

 

\--

 

"Why are we pulling weed?"

 

"It's not weed, Sari, it's a flower with powerful magical abilities."

 

"It's an ugly-ass flower if you ask me," Sarena muttered but kept on pulling out the blackstemmed white flowers, her mood was edgy to call it in simple terms and Regulus had pulled back on the observing eyes once he had firsthand seen how even more paranoid Sarena had gotten. Dumbledore had invoked measures as well, mail for selected students with questionable backgrounds were withheld and checked for any dangers first. "Why are we pulling these things out?"

 

"They're called moly," Julienna was answering before Regulus had even opened his mouth, details spilling out like ink from a quill, "They protect against dark magic or at least enchantments, and if consumed it even counteracts those spells." She looked over to Regulus for confirming the correctness of her statement and he nodded at her with a smile, Sarena just kept on glowering at the innocent flowers.

 

"This stuff?" She demanded with sarcasm dripping from her tongue, turning a white flower around in one hand, "Hardly looks like it has any powers, let alone beauty." Regulus couldn't help himself and burst out laughing, sitting down in the snow that he couldn't feel because of the warming spells. Sarena looked at him a little affronted, dropping the flower from her hand into the basket, the world around them was still winter wonderland white, Hogwarts caught in winter's claws still.

 

"I'm sorry," he chuckled when he caught himself again, "It's just that plants really do not run in the family, Sarena. Your uncle once made something cry and whimper and wail that wasn't even supposed to produce any sounds like that. I forgot the name but I still vividly remember Evan's face and how Marc vaulted over a table to save the _plant_." Julienna laughed this time and Sarena's lips turned into a weak little smile, it was the happiest Regulus had seen her in recent weeks. He knew that both girls didn't know a lot about their parents' schooltimes, Sarena's mother was not caring and indulging in story times, her father had been in prison since before the girl turned two, and Julienna no doubt heard not many stories because Adrienna wanted to protect her from finding out her secrets and Julienna's 'father' was the coldest man on the planet.

 

"Herbology was really only Marc's skill, the rest of us did what he told us to do to avoid getting bitten or spit at." He gave in to a little storytime while the girls finished up with the flower bed, these little floweres were resilient and the whole area would be back in full bloom in a week. "Same went for Potions and me really, Adrienna and Marc were doing okay, Evan and Barty were really great in blowing stuff up."

 

"What was Uncle Evan's best subject?" Sarena asked with a bit of hesitation showing in her voice, Regulus had no doubt that no one at home ever talked about him.

"Evan was good in everything he took except for Herbology and Potions," Regulus recalled with an easy heart, two weekends at home in a row and one of them being Liv and Jack moving in had really helped with the pain in his heart and the guilt in his soul. "Though he loved Ancient Runes the most, he had a hand with languages. And he definitely shined in Defense, Evan was a brilliant fighter."

 

"That sounds familiar," Julienna said with not a small amount of awe in her voice and Sarena flushed entirely scarlet, "Come on, take the damn compliment for once. You've been twitchy about finding something in common with your family in positive assets and now you have it."

"I don't think my uncle is the best one to idolize in my family, Julie," Sarena pointed out with a grimace and Regulus didn't hold back on the snort, both girls quickly looked his way.

 

"Don't take this the wrong way, Sarena, but among your recent family members, I'd say that Evan is among the better to aspire after. Your grandfather is a good man but he's also grand, I wouldn't want to follow those footsteps, and you don't like politics anyway. Evan was... he was a good friend, loyal and protective. He had the backs of those he cared about, and the fact that he stood on the wrong side, it doesn't change anything in that." He assured the girl who looked at him with those familiar eyes, "Though I will admit that I'd rather keep both of you from ever getting into any situations where you might have to prove that you hold your fathers' fighting talents."

 

Whether or not Julienna knew whom he meant with it. And whichever Rosier ended up being Sarena's real father.

 

"Can you really protect us?" Sarena went right for the hard question then, abandoning the flower work and roughly pulling off her gloves to clean them, Julienna sorted the last flowers into the basket and shifted uncomfortably, she didn't like the war talk very much. "I don't want to sound ungrateful, Professor, but Stevan...he is collecting dangerous people. And he is pissing off other dangerous people, something he cares nothing about, and I doubt an arrest warrant is gonna stop him."

 

"Sarena," Regulus began and leaned forward, it was breaking his heart to see this strong girl so frightened, "I know you are scared of your brother and I don't want to pretend that you shouldn't be. Stevan and Thomas are dangerous, the Dark Circle _if_ allowed to rise will be dangerous," he would never lie to these girls, he wanted them to never be blind to the danger, instead he wanted them to understand that fearing something didn't mean you were weak, "We are taking precautions, we are keeping our eyes open. What happened in my generation in Hogwarts, this mass recruiting under Voldemort, it won't happen again."

 

Julienna took Sarena's right hand, stroked over pale knuckles, somewhere behind them the loud laughter of Samentha and at least one Weasley came closer over the hill, the time alone he had managed to free himself with the girls to talk had come to an end but at least he had managed to calm them a little.

 

"I'll think of something, anything, to protect you. I swear." He promised them, Sarena more than Julienna even, because he knew that in case of any blatant danger to her, Adrienna would turn lion and reveal the truth of Julienna's blood to the right people to protect her, but Sarena had no one but her grandfather. And Silvan still believed in his politics and appropriate measures of the law a little bit too much for Regulus' personal tastes, the last war had shown that it was useless. "What I want you two to do is focus on school, leave the worrying to me. Be with your friends, let them comfort you, let them distract you. And I won't keep you from Hogsmeade, just please keep to the village and don't wander off, least of all alone. If anything ever seems strange or worse then you come straight to me, or if I'm not here then you go and find Lupin."

 

"We will," Julienna agreed and Sarena nodded, both of them looking up when the small group came over the hill top, bundled up against the cold in house colors, "Thank you, Regulus."

 

\--

 

Sirius' hearing and the then awaited conclusion was a boring affair with none of the excitement that the Gryffindor-involved people around might have been quietly rooting for.

 

Regulus was just glad this whole thing was over finally and they were able to concentrate on more dire problems, enough time had passed with paperwork and trials, hearings and statements and waiting periods.

 

The storm had turned up on the horizon, and their bad weather gear was terribly outdated.

 

\--

 

"Cheers!"

 

It was crowded and still Regulus laughed and dropped himself into a chair by the fireplace, swinging Liv onto his lap and nearly causing them to spill their drinks, around them people toasted each other and Sirius certainly looked the happiest Regulus had yet to see him.

 

"What are you gonna do first now, Sirius?" Regulus didn't even know who had called out the question, next to his friends and Remus, they had brought in a few of Sirius' old friends as well and now there were literally strangers in his living room and he was still happy. Sirius set his glass down on a table and looked over to Dora, so maybe it had been her.

"Find a place for Harry and me before I get on my brother's nerves," Sirius joked in all seriousness and Regulus raised his glass with a grin.

 

"Cheers to that!"

 

Laughter rippled around the room when Liv elbowed him in reaction and he grunted but quickly caught himself again to kiss her. There was music, there was drink and food, Jack was entertaining half the crowd by himself and it was good. Sirius was a free man and he could take care of his godson now, give Harry the person in his life that his parents had wanted him to have in a future without them.

 

It felt so peaceful.

 

And of course that was where fate punished him.

 

Jack screeched when the owl came fluttering in through the door, diving behind Marc's legs while the grown ups stopped in their tracks, conversation dying away when the big owl flew in a straight line towards Regulus, a newspaper attached to its right leg.

 

An Evening Prophet.

 

An emergency Evening Prophet, Regulus only got the morning edition.

 

People froze because newspapers like this never brought any good news and though a part of him tried to hope for only a special edition because of his brother's cleared name, Regulus still felt his throat close up as he gently tapped Liv's hip to signal her to get up. The owl landed on the armrest of the armchair he had been occupying, several people around him had already a hand on their wands, Marc had reached behind himself, a hand on Jack's head.

 

With a pounding heart, Regulus unfastened the Prophet and let shockingly calm fingers unroll it, and one look only prompted his heart to drop to the bottom of his stomach.

 

"Corban Yaxley was found murdered," he told the tense faces watching every move of his, Sirius made a half-step forward, frown edged into his face, a Death Eater dead, no cause for mourning, especially not for someone as slimey as Yaxley had been. Regulus let his eyes fly over the short article but they kept on drifting over to the picture, a moving picture showing the chest of a lifeless man. "They found him in Knockturn Alley, shortly after eight."

 

Adrienna's head snapped up and he nodded at her, "Your father, yes, he alerted the authorities right away." A flick of the wand and Dora was wearing her uniform.

"Dark Mark?" Remus wanted to know but Regulus shook his head, slowly getting to his feet without stopping to read, stopping to stare.

"No," he surprised them all, "This is something new," he explained and turned the frontpage of the paper around for everyone to see.

 

For everyone to see the lifeless eyes of a man in a bloodied face, shirt ripped open, revealing a mark on pale skin.

 

No skull, no snake.

 

A dark circle.

 

The storm had come.

 


	9. Act III - A Love's Strength - Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really struggled with this chapter. It felt like a gap filler for the longest time where nothing important really happened and it was just there to set things up for the future and just me going "meh, this has to happen but I don't like it."  
> Then I got a silly little idea and ran with it and suddenly it worked so cool to shift something into this chapter that I had meant to happen in a later one, and click this chapter suddenly turned super important somehow to the plot.  
> I am still not one hundred percent happy with it but considering that I doubt that is going to change anytime soon, I still chose to post it.

**Chapter 1 – Trials and Tribulations**

 

It had been months by the time he screamed himself awake from a nightmare that wasn't nightmare at all but a memory. A real memory still haunting his mind when he was at his weakest, when not even his subconsciousness could hold up the protective walls anymore.

 

A memory of hands grasping every inch of him, undead nails digging into his skin and every still living part of him fighting with everything he had while his lungs burned and his lips lost the fight against the water.

 

Months he had gone without nightmare troubles that did more to him than a gasp in the dead of night, years had gone by since it had last been this bad, not that he was aware of it in that moment as he lay fighting in his own bed, thinking himself miles and miles away.

 

When he got back to his surroundings, not knowing how long he had been caught in this spell, he found a pair of eyes blinking down at him that he hadn't expected. Regulus was lying throuroughly exhausted and limp in the bed in the master bedroom, propped up against someone's chest behind him, their arms locking his own tight to his upper body and Marc was kneeling astride his thighs, his hands holding Regulus' shaking ones.

 

And he was talking.

 

Talking words Regulus could only make out a moment later, after another painful breath left his lungs.

 

"...with me? Squeeze my hand if you are."

 

Following the order with the flicker of strength he could muster up, Regulus wondered how often his best friend had needed to repeat that question already, judging by the relief bleeding into his eyes like pain medication it had been a lot.

 

"Oh, thank Merlin. You can let him go, Sirius," Marc continued after a deep breath, keeping his own hold of Regulus' hands up even when Regulus felt the arms around his chest vanishing and then his brother moving out from behind him, lowering him gently down into pillows. Suddenly, Regulus had never been happier that Sirius was still looking for appropriate places and that Marc had staid over because he had been too tired to apparate back home, he didn't want to imagine what could have happened if Liv had been alone with him, Jack and Kreacher in the house.

 

And...

 

Liv!

 

"Liv..." he croaked out desperately, voice barely there, and immediately got shushed by Marc, Sirius clanking away with something out of sight.

"Don't talk, you've no doubt screamed yourself sick," Marc cautioned and at least shifted himself off of Regulus' leg to sit down on the bed beside him, still letting Regulus' clutch at his hands, "Liv is completely fine. She tried to rouse you when you started struggling against invisible foes and when that didn't work she immediately got me. She's down with Jack now, the screaming woke him up. I sent Kreacher out to fetch some things from my place, I'm quite sure I won't need them but I needed to get the little guy out of the house." Regulus winced, feeling even more awful, he didn't want to think about how terrible Kreacher had to feel. "Can you give us a moment, Sirius? Tell Liv that he's back?"

 

"Sure," Regulus heard his brother answer and then leave, steps walking away even if Regulus wasn't able to look at him, a door got closed and Marc's face shuttered down.

"Okay, breathe, just breathe," he whispered and Regulus closed his eyes, the steady pressure of Marc's hands on his the anchor to not fall prey to his demons again, his heart was still pounding and he was quite sure that so much as a creak in the ceiling or walls would have him jump right out of his skin then. "You got out of that cave. You're home, in Grimmaudplace, in your bedroom. You're okay, you just need to breathe."

 

There was a short moment where Regulus' still scrambled mind produced the vivid idea of Evan handing out pamphlets to the others in their little group about how to handle Regulus post nightmare, Marc sounded too much like Evan right now for it to have been coincidence.

 

And it worked.

 

Like a damn calming draught that Regulus detested.

 

His pulse slowed again and his lungs took in air again without it feeling like fire ripping him apart, it still ached and he would have to swallow some potions to fully regain his voice but he was no longer falling apart. A couple of tears ran down his cheeks, Regulus didn't feel too ashamed over them and Marc completely ignored him, still repeating this endless mantra that Evan had used so so many times to soothe Regulus out of his nightmares and panic attacks.

 

When he loosened his hold on Marc's wrist, Marc got up and brought over a glass of water, helping in propping Regulus up so he could drink easier, water had certainly never felt better. Leaned back into pillows then, Regulus went back to breathing exercices until he stopped feeling the phantom touches on his skin.

 

"Have you ever thought about showing someone? Your memories of that day?" Marc wondered aloud as he sat back down on the edge of the bed, Regulus only stared at him, the water in the glass in his hands sloshing with the way his body was still trembling slightly. "Listen, Reg, this might be the wrong occasion and certainly not the best time and ten years or not, I know that given the choice, you'd have someone else sitting here but..."

 

"Marc, that isn't right," Regulus interrupted him quickly and though his voice was quiet, Marc still stopped, the look in his eyes turning guilty, "I never would have chosen any of you over the other. Yes, Evan's and my friendship was always just that bit more closer than to the rest of you but I never for even a second would have picked him and sent the rest of you into the wind. Do I miss him?" Regulus gave the rhetorical question and then sighed, heart squeezing painfully, "Yes, I do, every single day. I miss Evan, not the Death Eater, my best friend, but Evan is dead. Evan hasn't been here the last ten years," struggling upright Regulus was grateful for the help Marc offered silently, as he withdrew though Regulus reached for his wrist, held him back, "You were there, Marc. For every good, for every bad moment. No one knows my head better than you nowadays, and you think that means nothing?"

 

"It doesn't mean nothing to me," Marc insisted and Regulus watched him hard in the magically illuminated bedroom, it had to be the middle of the fucking night, "I just feel like we're having this ghost between us sometimes, and it feels three times more persistent when Adrienna is around."

"There is no ghost between us, Marc, least of all Evan's," Regulus made clear and hoped that despite being exhausted as shit his eyes were still able to convey how serious he was, "You're my best friend," Marc's shoulders lifted again, "No ghosts, no guilt, no blame. And if you truly think you could carry that weight of seeing my worst memories..."

 

"It's no weight if I can help you," Marc supplied him with and Regulus swallowed, eyes dropping to the vanity in the corner where Liv's bracelets were still flung about from when Regulus had tugged her away from the mirror the evening before, "You need someone to understand, and if past experience has shown us anything than that you can't talk about it in a way to make me understand. Show me, Reg, and I'll help you finally get through this or at least onto a level where you won't have to fight your way out of your dreams anymore."

 

Regulus' only response was a nod.

 

"Now, lean back and drink some more, I'm gonna send Liv up and find the potions, and I will add Dreamless Sleep because you need rest." Marc laid it out for him as he stood up and Regulus obediently raised the glass to take another sip of water.

"Marc?" Regulus called his friend's attention back to him when Marc was in the process of closing the door, hazel eyes caught his, "Thank you." Marc inclined his head, having understood.

 

\--

 

"If you want to remain in bed, it's really not a problem," Liv said carefully in the real morning, brushing her hair while watching him like a hawk in the mirror, "It's no shame to take some rest." She reminded him gently and Regulus smiled when he slowly walked over to kiss the top of her head, resting his hands on the back of the chair she was sitting in. He had a week to rest, Easter holidays were upon them and though he had promised to return if there was so much as a whiff of trouble, he was also looking forward to have a little break from Hogwarts life again.

 

"I promise that I'll take it easy." He told her and Liv smiled at him in the mirror, setting her brush down and then reaching her right hand back to cover his left, "It wasn't the first time, and it wouldn't have been the last either. I know when to cut back, Liv."

"Do you believe showing Marc those memories will lessen the pain?" Liv wanted to know and let go of him to stand up and turn to face him, hands coming up to frame his face, thumbs stroking over his cheekbones.

 

"I don't know but it can hardly get any worse." Regulus tried it with rational logic, even if it felt a little wrong to simplify it like that when he still felt weak with parts of him stuck in the screams and the terror of last night. Liv gave him a smile anyway and then kissed him.

 

They got ready to go out into the park then, spent five minutes searching the house for Jack before actually venturing outside into the sunshine. Spring had come in hard and almost pushed itself into an early summer already, the playground was filled with children playing and it didn't take long until Jack asked and then ran off to join them. Regulus and Olivia got comfortable on their blanket, choosing to enjoy the sunshine.

 

It was perfect, with Liv leaning back against his chest and both of them watching Jack laughing loudly, playing with other children.

 

The idyll got broken when Regulus found his skin crawl and his gut prompted him to turn his gaze to the right, hisy body freezing immediately when he caught sight of pale blond hair on the man approaching in a black suit.

 

"Liv," he began calmly but already pushed at her to sit up, Liv turned to him with questioning eyes, stiffening when she saw his stress, "Get to close to Jack, call for Kreacher if something looks even remotely wrong." Regulus rattled his worried words down and got them both onto their feet, already pushing Liv towards the playground.

"Reggie, who is..." Liv questioned him but also took two steps closer to the sandbox where Jack was currently digging a hole with another boy. Regulus would worry about the muggles later if a Kreacher intervention was needed.

 

"That's Lucius Malfoy, now go."

 

He turned his back on Liv and took long striding steps to get in Lucius' path as far away from Liv and Jack as possible.

 

"Leave." His greeting to Lucius couldn't have gone over colder and grey eyes watched him with sheer indifference, "You have no place here."

"So you think you can dictate me now where I can and cannot go," Lucius snarled back at him and Regulus felt the comforting weight of his wand against his leg. "You are not that powerful, Regulus. You cannot pull on those strings."

 

"I can," Regulus deadpanned back at the man who had scared him so much for so long when he had been a child, this cold heartless man who had taken his favourite cousin away from him, who had only ever sneered at the Blacks, thought himself something better even if the Malfoys were nothing without their wealth. "I can and I will if you come near my family one more time." Lucius glanced over Regulus' shoulder towards the playground and Regulus needed to lock down his muscles to keep from following this ugly thing crawling up his chest.

 

Remember the muggles, his mind told him, deal with this with words until you really can't anymore.

 

"So, it's family now, hm?" Lucius asked him and settled his icy gaze back on Regulus, "How the mighty are falling. You could have made something of yourself, Regulus, even now, even after renouncing his name. Enough families around who remained neutral but this scum, this shame, brought upon your name, that is a decision you cannot reverse anymore. You will be ruining your family name, the Black legacy, as I recall that once meant a great deal to you."

 

Regulus made a quick step forward and stabbed his finger against Lucius' chest, "What happens to the Black legacy is and never was your business, Lucius. And I would advise you heavily to keep your nose out of it before I forget myself, you don't want me as your enemy." He could almost feel himself growing and Lucius' face turned thunderous, eyes narrowing. "Be careful with what your next words are going to be. You do not get to touch my family, you will never harm so much as a hair on their heads. I am not a child anymore that you get to kick around whenever it pleases you."

 

"You don't know what you're doing," Lucius hissed at him and Regulus stared right back at him, stared him down, "You are still very much that child who could never defend himself but do remind yourself, Regulus, your attack dog isn't here anymore. This time you have no Evan at your side to do everything for you, this time you have to try and protect your precious little fake family yourself."

 

Regulus heard steps when his hand was already at his hip where he had hid the wand under concealment charms, and over Lucius' shoulder he caught sight of Sirius walking up to them, and his brother wasn't even bothering with being subtle in muggle territory. Wand drawn and held in his hand ready for an attack, Sirius hadn't raised it yet but he was tensed enough to do within the blink of an eye.

 

"Regulus?" He asked in a question that wouldn't need other words and Regulus looked back at Lucius whose face had turned to stone.

"I believe Lucius was just about to go," Regulus mentioned and Lucius' eyes turned darker than they already were, burning with hatred and with one last look thrown over Regulus' shoulder that Regulus wanted to slice him in two for, Malfoy disappeared on the spot.

 

Scared of Sirius then, interesting, noted.

 

Regulus breathed out his tension and bent over, resting his hands on his knees to take some deep breaths, mind still going haywire and feeling the exhaustion in his body more than ever. Sirius stopped next to him and set a hand between his shoulderblades, rubbing gently for a calming effect.

"What the bloody hell did he want?" Sirius asked and his tone promised that Regulus had to be careful now with how he phrased his answer, otherwise Sirius was going to get too protective and do something stupid.

 

Namely playing attack dog, a phrase that fit him better than the dead wizard Lucius had meant.

 

"He made the usual empty threats," Regulus began when he slowly straightened up again, his brother's hand dropped away, "Nothing I haven't heard before from him. Just a little harsher." He explained and then looked back to where Olivia was watching them from the edge of the playground, Jack still playing happily and oblivious.

 

"Are you okay?"

 

"Yeah, I'm fine."

 

Lucius Malfoy was going down.

 

\--

 

"The nerve on her," Adrienna grumbled when a houseelf handed her a cup of tea in a delicate china teacup, in her small hand it looked graceful, Regulus rather felt like he was handling Julienna's old playset. They had just been more or less dropped into a sitting room by Evan's goodsister, to Regulus' great shame he had still not managed to remember her first name.

 

Silas' wife, the batty cold screw had never really deserved more in Regulus' mind.

 

"At least we got tea and not just silence," Regulus proposed equally quiet while he looked around the sitting room, it was the smaller of the formal ones in Rosier Manor. The house was just as big as the extravagant palace of the Malfoys but Rosier Manor had always managed to still feel like a home and not just like a front to play host. Nothing had greatly changed since the times where he had been a regular in these walls, the only thing that had been replaced since then was any and every portrait of the three brothers.

 

He smiled at the houseelf setting some cookies onto the table and he got a smile in return, being remembered still even if they would never dare and speak to him with only the young Misses in the house. Silvan was still at work and his wife out for charity, and Regulus really couldn't wait for either of them to turn up.

 

"Have you made up your mind yet over that boggart in the room?" Adrienna wanted to know and for a moment Regulus took her words too literally and had his hand already slipping towards his wand to deal with an actual boggart. When his mind caught up he glared at her, he had been so glad to not have been thinking about Sarena's parenthood for one day.

"We're not here because of that," he reminded Adrienna sharply, ever since Marc and him had told her of their suspicions and Sarena's own growing fear, Adrienna had been raving to talk to Silvan, "We're here because I want something done against Lucius, everything else can wait."

 

"But..."

 

Adrienna stopped when a loud voice in the corridor demanded to know since when guests were left like cloaks in a closet.

 

"You are not the Lady of this house, and you better remember your position one of these days before I sent you out to find your ungrateful son!" Silvan snarled over his shoulder as he came walking into the room, eyes turned to apologies when he set them onto Adrienna and Regulus, "I can't believe this woman. Please forgive me, my friends." They stood to greet him and then all three of them walked into Silvan's private study where only he entertained guests, the houseelves snapped their tea over.

 

"What can I do for you?"

 

"Lucius seems to think it necessary now to threaten my family." Regulus got straight to the point and Silvan was on the edge of his seat immediately.

"What did he do?" He wanted to know, voice dropped into worried seriousness, introducing Liv to him had gone so amazingly, she had been in awe and flushed with respect, Silvan had been endeared with Liv and completely enarmored with Jack.

"He approached us in the park outside Grimmaudplace." Regulus gritted out between his teeth, angry and maybe even in parts also terrified, "Said some things I'd rather not repeat. I can disregard things said about me but I draw the line at Liv and Jack."

 

"You should have drawn the line earlier." Silvan reminded him in a stern fatherly tone that Regulus scowled at, breaking the whole image a little with the bloody dainty teacup awkwardly being held by two fingers, "I'll talk to Abraxas. If there is one thing we agreed upon in the last two decades then that Voldemort was a disease that needed to be eradicated, not supported." Regulus doubted that Abraxas had never not at least a bit supported Voldemort, but just like Orion Black himself Abraxas must have at one point decided Voldemort's methods were going to far and the appropriate response was to close one's eyes and let others handle it. "And I cannot imagine that Abraxas would think too highly over his son threatening the Black Patriach."

 

Probably not.

 

If the continuous invitations for a talk or tea or dinner were any indication then the Malfoy Patriarch was more than willing to built up connections to the Blacks again. Regulus had answered him with basically the same thing he had written Narzissa, just quite a bit more between the lines.

 

There was a difference after all between telling your cousin to drop her husband and telling a father of a once allied family to drop his only son.

 

"Tell Abraxas that his son went too far, I will go through my memories until I _will_ find a way to throw Lucius into Azkaban." Regulus made clear and Silvan even smiled, as if he had already known what Regulus would say, "If it comes from you, it sounds less like the ultimatum it is. I have waited long enough for Lucius to pay for what he did." He was quite convinced that Lucius was acting on the belief that Regulus had nothing on him, not realizing that the only reason Regulus hadn't pushed to the fullest in going for his head had been his love for his once favourite cousin and her young son.

 

"You want to protect the boy." Silvan read his thoughts correctly and Regulus nodded, catching Adrienna's eyes for a moment, despite Draco being an absolute brat, he still deserved nothing of what his father would push him into with this Dark Circle. Two more deaths since Yaxley, and both of those men who had once been close sympathisants to Voldemort's cause, even if not marked. Stevan and Thomas were playing a confusing game, surrounding themselves with people, most of them young, their age, maybe slightly older, spreading word about the supremacy of pure blood and at the same time attacking known members of Voldemort's old ranks.

 

It wasn't making any sense.

 

"Of course I want to protect the boy. He's a spoiled brat, he may be worse than Evan and I ever were at that age, but it doesn't mean he deserves to have our fate." He set his teacup down on a side table and then stood up, too jittery to remain sitting. He dragged a hand through his hair as he walked over to the bookshelf at the far back of the study, built around a window that overlooked the backyard. So many times Regulus had sought silence and peace in this house, every corner just as familiar as Grimmaudplace.

 

Here in Silvan's private corner of the house, where no one could enter who didn't have his explicit blessing or invitation, there were still signs of the family that had once been living in this house. There was a portrait in the corner of the bookshelf, hexed small from where it had once hung in the entrance foyer, showing three young boys who looked so remarkably alike, Evan was nothing more than a toddler in it. Moving pictures all around of Silvan's three sons and his grandchilren, Regulus quickly looked away when he saw one of Evan cradling a baby in his arms, he didn't even want to look close enough to see how old he was to determine if it was Stevan or Sarena.

 

"Lucius has never given a single thought over how many people get hurt in his strive for power and prestige. He showed that when Evan and I were nothing more than kids, he showed it even more when we were teenagers. He _will_ want a foot into the Dark Circle, and it's rather obvious by now that he can't get his own in there, so he will throw Draco in. And in the headspace this boy has been raised in the last thirteen years he will see it as an opportunity to prove himself, not as a danger. Draco is a smart kid, but he is terribly naive and terribly spoiled, and for him his father can do no wrong and it is the world that is continously putting the Malfoys on the wrong. I know how that feels, and how easy it was to just ignore the evidence against it. He's a kid, he doesn't deserve that his family is throwing him to the wolves."

 

Which in this case were Stevan Rosier and Thomas Fawley.

 

"No, he doesn't." Silvan agreed silently and Regulus flinched at hearing that defeated tone, slowly turned around again to face the man who was slowly but surely becoming the father figure again that he had been a long time ago.

"I'm sorry, Silvan." He apologized but Silvan shook his head, Adrienna watched them quietly, a look in her eyes that Regulus couldn't sort in, one that he had seen so often every time she had come back from one of her trips.

"No, don't be. Whatever Stevan chose to do, he chose it on his own." Silvan made clear and Regulus looked back to him, "Or with at least no pressure from his own blood. This isn't Evan all over again. These boys are not following a madman's desires, they are following their own path into darkness."

 

\--

 

"Wow."

 

"That is the most condescending tone I have heard you use since we reunited. And I don't like it."

 

"This is very...suburban." Regulus tried himself at finding a word for it, eyes flickering back down to the white picket fence and the flowers and bushes in the frontyard, a little stone pebbled path leading to the little gate at the side that would probably lead to the backyard along the soft colored house. "It's beautiful, no doubt there, but this is not something I would have expected you to pick." It was more something he would have expected Adrienna in, and Marc's house looked like that as well under all the green stuff.

 

Beside him, Remus was dead silent but watching Sirius with a funny look on his face, Regulus could see it from the corner of his eyes, and he noticed also when Sirius got aware of it.

 

"Oh come on, really, you, too? What is wrong with you people, this is a nice house." Sirius argued and pushed open the little white gate to the arched path to the front door. "It'll need some renovating inside and a full magical redo, especially concerning outside wards and muggle charms but it's a really nice place. The backyard is huge, a teen needs space." Sirius made grand gestures and Regulus bit his lips to keep from grinning over his brother's enthusiam, Remus leaned in as they followed Sirius to the front door.

 

"Can we check if Molly Weasley Imperio-ed him?"

 

"I heard that, Moony!"

 

Sirius walked them through the house and though it was a total mess inside, it was a good size, not too small and not too big, it had the potential to become a home. Even if the thought of Sirius in suburban London was a bit much for Regulus to take in still.

 

"Can't have some bachelor pad in the city with a teenager," Sirius brought it to point when Remus asked for an answer to that question, they were standing out on the patio, looking over the backyard that would need a Marc visit to be inhabitable again. "There are some witches and wizards living in the area, Emmeline just around the corner, but it's mostly muggles. Harry needs a place where he can escape this drama in his life. This Dark Circle doesn't look so far like they want anything to do with him but you never know, and Voldemort isn't gone. I can protect Harry here but I can also give him a quiet life, he's never had that before."

 

"Well, the garden is big enough to play Quidditch in," Regulus noted calmly, aware of his brother's eyes flickering over to him, probably expecting another harsh comment to follow, they needed to make time for a conversation, "With some work, this could be a nice home. I like it. Are you sure though that you'll feel comfortable here, aside from Harry?" He wanted to know because quiet suburban family life had never been Sirius' biggest dream, Remus left them to talk and strode down into the garden to take a look around.

 

"If boredom hits then London's heart is only a quick floo trip or an apparation away. I got friends around here," Sirius pointed out and leaned back against the house wall, "And honestly, I don't need the drama and the adrenaline anymore. I want a chance to breathe now, to be allowed to be myself without another battle or fight waiting around the next corner."

"I'll ask Marc to take a look at the garden then," Regulus said and he knew when his brother looked at him that Sirius understood it as approval, "You got the contacts you need for renovations and spellwork?"

 

"Yeah, I do. And Reg? Thank you."

 

\--

 

When they stood in front of the cave entrance, Regulus needed a long long moment to get his head to understand and feel that this was just a memory. They hadn't stepped into the past, they hadn't stepped into a real situation, this was just a memory.

 

Just a memory in a pensieve.

 

Proven when he felt Marc right at his side on the narrow rock ledge that led to the cave, nothing would be able to harm them in a memory but one still let instincts guide. Regulus' gaze swept over the cliffside and the dark cave entrance before they locked on the boy being guided by a tiny being into the darkness of the cave.

 

"And we were sitting in our warm homes, having no idea." Marc commented and then nudged Regulus into walking. They followed his younger self and a terribly shaking Kreacher deeper into the cave, and with every step Regulus could already feel the nausea returning. The moment the darkness of the cave swallowed them, Marc stepped even closer, their shoulders brushing against each other, Regulus was so grateful.

 

His seventeen year old self snapped himself a small light, he hadn't dared to do more back then, too afraid that Voldemort would find out, that something could be triggered that would alarm him.

"You look terrible," Marc pointed out, not bothering with keeping his voice down, they had nothing to fear here, nothing could touch them but each other. Regulus sent him a glare, Marc deadpanned back at him, daring him to say anything against it, "You are only skin and bones, skinnier than I have ever seen you. How did Evan even let you out of his sight like this?"

 

Young Regulus and Kreacher had reached the back wall of the cave and Kreacher was talking about blood magic and sacrifices, Marc paled, "Of course, one had to weaken themselves already before even being in."

"Evan was reluctant to let me out of his sight in these times but I've been that skinny that graduation. Too much stress, too much pressure," Regulus explained, phantom pain on his hand from the cut he saw his younger self make before pressing his hand to the cave wall. "Right now, at this point in the past, I snuck away from Rosier Manor in the middle of the night. Left Evan sleeping in his bed, to wake up tomorrow to my empty one."

 

"Wow," Marc said very quietly but not to the wall disappearing as the blood spell took effect upon the sacrifice, but to Regulus grimacing into the darkness to not look at his friend, "And you didn't even leave a note for him?"

"I didn't know what to write," Regulus admitted and they followed their guides into the deeper halls of the cave, Kreacher was upset, begging and pleading with young Regulus to turn back. "It wasn't my greatest moment."

 

"You can say that again," Marc grumbled and looked around the hidden part of the cave they were walking into, the lake laid still and still Regulus could swear he saw movement. It wasn't until Marc grabbed his hand to pull him along that Regulus even realized he had stopped to stare at the water. Closer to the edge young Regulus was listening to Kreacher explain what he would have to do. When the boat appeared, Marc jumped and then whined, even though he already more or less knew the basics over what had happened and how it had gone down. "Boat rides. Yay."

 

And Marc was also terribly seasick.

 

On the boat, Regulus forced himself to look only at his younger self's face, not anywhere else, no onto the island building itself up with the damn potion, not to the water with the damn inferi, just his own younger face. Young Regulus was determined, he had pushed any other emotion away that night, especially every guilt he had felt over sneaking away from Evan. He had given himself a mission, a purpose, and he was going to pull it through to the bitter end.

 

It had been rather simple in thought.

 

Regulus had entered the cave not expecting to get out anymore.

 

When he had stood in Evan's bedroom that night, packed and holding Kreacher's hand already to be taken away, he had whispered goodbye to the boy he had loved and he had known it to be final.

 

In the boat now, Kreacher was shaking terrible already, still begging to turn around and Regulus had felt terrible for him, had been so worried but he also had known that it was necessary, that they couldn't stop anymore now.

 

\--

 

"Master, please let Kreacher drink the potion. Master should not have to when Kreacher is here."

 

They were standing around the potion basin in a circle, though back then it had only been young Regulus with Kreacher pressed against his legs in pure terror, wide open eyes flickering frantically between their surroundings and Regulus' face. Now, Regulus and Marc were maybe two steps apart, both gripped by emotions, both gripped by this suppressing fear and despair that laid over the cave as a consequence of the trapped inferi.

 

"Kreacher, no," young Regulus was arguing, "I have to do this myself, you keep an eye on the cave. You need to be ready to take the locket and go." Marc was mumbling something under his breath that Regulus couldn't understand but he was also too fixed on his younger self reaching summoning up a cup to start drinking the vial potion. Kreacher wailed, fingers clawing at Regulus' pants. "Hey, hey," young Regulus was trying to soothe him, a hand stroking over flopping ears, "I told you how this was going to work, my friend." He explained and then got down on one knee, "I told you it was okay. I need to do this, Kreacher, this is the only thing that can be done to stop him. He caused you so much pain, my little friend."

 

"Kreacher doesn't want to lose Master Regulus."

 

"I'll always be there," young Regulus promised, setting two fingers upon Kreacher's heart, smiling bittersweet, Kreacher started to cry, "Promise me you'll take the locket, that you bring it to safety and find out how to destroy it. The locket is more important than me, Kreacher, do you understand?" The order had been clear and Kreacher had had no choice but to accept, had later only used loopholes to save Regulus.

 

When young Regulus began to drink the potion and soon enough fell to his knees and couldn't go on anymore without Kreacher forcing him to continue, their version of the memory got foggy and most of all soundless. Regulus had manipulated this part of his memories because he knew to this day still what he had seen, whom he had screamed for when the pain and the desperation had been so terrible.

 

He had called for Barty, Marc and Adrienna. He had begged his dead father to come. He had yelled for his mother. He had pleaded for his brother to save him. And most of all he had screamed for Evan, he had screamed himself hoarse for Evan to come and take him away, to help him, save him, to just be there, to not let Regulus be alone.

 

He didn't want Marc to experience that in sound, watching it was already hard enough if Marc's ashen grey face was an indication, hands curled into fists at his sides while he kept his eyes on where young Regulus was convulsing on the ground, Kreacher again and again setting the cup to his lips.

 

"Do you think you screamed out things that Kreacher took as orders so he could save you, too?" Marc wanted to know into the deafening silence, Regulus needed to swallow a few times before he could talk. Already it felt like too much and the worst was only still coming. He hadn't ever dreamt about the potion and the images it had conjured up, let alone the despair, it had only ever been the cave itself and the inferi.

 

"Kreacher said the pleadings I sent out towards the Evan in my head was what he took as loopholes."

 

"Reg?" Marc drew his attention and Regulus glanced over to him and his shocked eyes, Marc had a finger pointed to the tortured view of younger Regulus, "That is not a boy willing to die. You told me you stepped into this convinced you would not leave anymore, that this was to be your grave. But that right there is not a boy whose heart or mind is anywhere near that determination." Marc accused him of and Regulus frowned at him and then over to his younger self, "That is a boy scared to death because he wants to fucking live. That is not a boy who gave up on life! Look at yourself, look at how frightened you are!"

 

\--

 

When the last of the potion was swallowed and young Regulus was blinking and gasping for air down on the ground, Kreacher pulled himself up the basin and grabbed the real locket. He went down again and fumbled along young Regulus' pockets to find the decoy, keeping the real locket in his own hands as he flung the fake one into the basin that refilled itself.

 

"Alright," Marc said quietly, having walked around to look between a near motionless young Regulus and the lake's edge, "How do you get into he water now?" It was nearly dead silent in the cave, only young Regulus' sharp breaths could be heard and Kreacher's bitten back whimpers. Regulus of the present stepped up to Marc's side, shoulder to shoulder again because he knew he would need it soon.

 

"Just wait for it."

 

A few seconds later, young Regulus struggled upright and there was only one word falling from his lips, "water." Kreacher was there immediately, flinging himself against young Regulus' chest and vehemently arguing against it.

"No, Master. Master Regulus cannot go to the water, the water is very bad. Master has to sit for a moment and then Kreacher can break the wards and take Master back home or to Mister Evan," Kreacher was rambling, tiny hands and arms trying to keep young Regulus from getting up, "Won't Master want to see Mister Evan, he asked for Mister Evan so much. Master, please stay down, Kreacher just needs a moment. We gots the locket, we can leave now."

 

Young Regulus didn't care.

 

"Water."

 

Kreacher got overpowered and young Regulus clumsily but determinedly made a rush for the lake's shore, Marc followed, Regulus reluctantly did as well, heart pounding in his chest, pulse roaring in his ears.

 

"I repeat myself, not a boy who wants to die." Marc grimly stated almost as an accuse and Regulus frowned for him in the split second between young Regulus getting a handful of water into his mouth and young Regulus screaming when a hand grabbed his wrist. He was pulled so quickly under the water that Kreacher couldn't even finished his yelled "Master!"

 

Marc had stumbled back a step when the whole cave was suddenly filled with the wailing of inferi, bodies lurching up from the water line everywhere, especially where a struggle was happening basically right at their feet. Regulus closed his eyes. At least until Marc grabbed his hand and squeezed tight enough to have him open them again to look over to him.

 

"You're fighting. You're fighting like hell!"

 

Regulus frowned, that couldn't be, he didn't remember fighting, he remembered a small struggle but being too weak, he remember being pulled deeper and deeper. He remembered so many hands grasping for a part of him to tug in all directions but mostly down, down, down. He remembered the light fading away. He remembered pain. He remembered cold. He remembered giving up.

 

There had been no fighting.

 

Marc forced him to look at the scene in the lake when Regulus gave no reaction, turning his head with hands and keeping them in place, "Look at yourself."

 

Just then young Regulus was breaking the surface again, loudly gasping for air while dozens of inferi were pulling at him, Regulus didn't remember that at all. He saw his younger self trashing against their hold, punching, kicking, snarling, head butts, fingers clawing, just all knees and elbows and twisting.

 

Young Regulus, fighting like hell.

 

Once more he broke the surface, knocked three inferi off of himself, grabbed the edge of the island that was rigged with sharp stone and then yelled a word at the top of his fading strength that became his saving grace.

 

"KREACHER!"

 

And for Regulus everything about that night changed.

 

\--

 

They lurched back from the pensieve and both of them lost their footing, causing them to stumble and then crash to the ground when their knees were too weak to keep them up. Regulus landed on his back, breaths knocked out of his chest, heart pounding frantically while he stared at the ceiling of Marc's library.

 

He felt the soft carpet under himself, heard the grandfather clock in the corner and the birds outside, smelled cinnamon and the flowery subnote that dominated Marc's place from top to bottom. There was nothing of the wet smell left, no screams echoing from stone walls, no ghost touch of too thin fingers clawing at his limbs.

 

"Fuck," Marc groaned not far from him and Regulus could hear how he moved, supposedly back to his feet or at least into a sitting position. "Reg, are you okay?"

"Yeah," he croaked out and rolled himself onto his side with much effort and then pushed himself up until he was kneeling in the middle of the library, catching Marc's eyes so easily where his best friend was sitting maybe four feet away, "I'm okay. Are you?"

 

"I am quite desperately trying to not throw up right now." Marc confessed and pressed fingers to his temples, "How are you okay after seeing that again?"

"I saw it almost every night for so many years. Had nightmares about it. Panic attacks." Regulus summarized and somehow found the strength to pull himself to his feet and then help Marc onto a chair and himself onto the couch, "Just now... what you said, it made me realize something."

"Would you care to eleborate on that just so I don't throw up on my shoes?" Marc let sarcasm play because being sick or even only feeling sick had only ever brought the snarky little bastard out in him. Regulus felt exhausted but his mind was completely sharp and alive and clear.

"You said I fought like hell." He recalled what Marc had said in the cave, voice full of admiration almost, of wonder.

 

"You did. Why? What did you think was happening?" Marc questioned him, finally sitting up, the green teint slowly receding from his face.

"I didn't remember, not...clearly." Regulus went with brutal honesty, he still couldn't truly believe that he had been so wrong, "I thought that Kreacher...had all by himself somehow managed to get me out of their grasp and out of the water and then out of the cave but now...I fought, I hadn't just given up." Marc was sitting tense and upright in a second, all signs of nausea and dizziness gone.

 

"You thought you...Reg..." Marc's words were nothing more than a whisper and Regulus gave him a weak smile, tried to apologize with a look until he had his own words together.

"I went in there knowing that there was a chance I wouldn't come out. And all these years I thought I had resigned myself to it but..." And his voice gained strength to it, "I wanted to live, and that changes everything. I fought, I fought back. I didn't want to die in that hellish place, not like that, not for him."

 

"It was still a damn close call and if Kreacher hadn't followed even a single one of your delirious orders, you _would_ have died, Reg." Marc pointed out with insistence, he was growing a little pale and Regulus knew nodding to it didn't exactly help in making it better but it was the truth.

"It was a risk I needed to take. To stop him, to give someone the chance to stop him. Kreacher saved me, something I will forever be grateful for to the deepest corners of my heart and soul, but seeing now that I didn't just give up... I wasn't weak, Marc. And I think I'm having a good chance now at not letting them make me feel weak and useless again... in my dreams. Thank you, for doing this with me. For proposing the idea in the first place. It helped, it helped so much." Regulus told his best friend and Marc smiled, even if a little shakingly still.

 

"Always, man, always."

 

\--

 

"Reg, the letter... I opened it."

 

Regulus froze.

 

The day Adrienna and him had been to see Silvan about Lucius Malfoy, he had shown them two letters that his daughter-in-law had hid after Stevan had found them in some corner in the attic months ago among abandoned books of his father's. One envelope seal had been broken, the other untouched.

 

The opened one, addressed to Silvan himself, had been the feared or hoped for proof of Evan's desperate wish to get out, knowing that only death could give as such. Regulus had not been ashamed of the tears that had fallen while he had sat there in Silvan's study, reading the words of his long dead best friend so frantically trying to seek redemption and the forgiveness of his father before he went into death.

 

Silas must have found his brother's letters and hid them before they had gone out into another battle that had been their last.

 

The second letter had been addressed to Marc.

 

And it was that name writting in Evan's too pretty handwriting that had caused something in Regulus to break that afternoon, causing him to sob into Silvan's shoulder because Evan had wanted to seek forgiveness in the friend he had lost. The friend he had still never given up on.

 

A day later, after Liv had pieced him back together with love and warmth and understanding, Regulus had flooed to Marc's and handed him the letter, but Marc had been too overwhelmed to open it. Until now apparently, a good week and a half later, on the first weekend after Easter.

 

"What did...what did it say?"

 

"Evan wrote...he wrote about what he found out about your death," Marc began his tale, his voice thin and hands pressed flat against his thighs, and Regulus felt a cold sweat break out over his back, "I don't know why he didn't tell his father because...Reg, he found out about the horcruxes." Regulus snapped his eyes up to stare at Marc, feeling the color drain from his face, "And Evan thought you died for finding out the truth."

"He thought he had found out that Voldemort had killed me for seeing the horrible truth about him," Regulus croaked out and he must have looked as close enough to passing out as he admittedly felt because Marc abandoned his armchair and settled down right next to him on the couch, "Evan... Evan...he wanted out for the same exact reason I made the cut."

 

Marc nodded and then stood up to walk over to the big window that overlooked the entire backyard almost. Silence fell over them while Regulus pondered this revelations. Evan and horcruxes. Evan and thinking that Voldemort had killed his best friend. Evan wanting out because he was scared and angry.

 

"I always wondered if I could have made a difference if I hadn't left so violently." Marc broke the silence while he stared out of the window, eyes fixed on his garden, arms crossed tight over his chest, his shoulders heavy with guilt. Regulus knew that look only too well and still his lips were sealed shut in this moment. "Evan was a protector. From the first moment I met him, that was all I knew for damn sure about him. Youngest of three but the one with protective instincts sealed right into his soul, all he ever wanted was to protect the people he cared about." Regulus closed his eyes over Marc's completely true assessment of Evan. There were pictures of them as toddlers, the age difference of half a year more pronounced back then still for obvious reasons, and still it was Evan wrapped around Regulus like a safety net.

 

"No matter how we parted, no matter what I had or hadn't said that day, it changed nothing for him..." And with almost terror curling in his gut, Regulus realized that Marc was crying. "I know he still sent Barty after idiots and bullies even after I had turned my back on you guys. He looked out for me when I pretended that all of you were dead to me. I just... I just wonder if me sticking around and arguing vehemently against it might have changed _something_ , not Barty's mind but maybe Evan's. And you would have stopped if Evan had told you not to, wouldn't you?" Marc wanted to know and turned around again, wiping a hand over his face and looking over to Regulus with tears still sticking to his lashes.

 

"He would have been the only one who could have stopped me." Regulus agreed with that statement, no one else would have even had a chance to have him listen for real long enough to get into his head. "I don't think anyone else would have had a chance, not with my head back then...but Marc, don't feel guilty. You have no blame to carry, you made the smart decision and kept out of it."

"Did I?" Marc asked him, once more wiping a hand over his face, Regulus' heart was breaking to see his friend so shaken, "Did I really make a smart decision to not even try?" He snapped his fingers and summoned the letter, showing it to Regulus who slowly stood up, "He sought my forgiveness, wanted me to send it into his grave because he was too scared to seek my forgiveness in life. He wrote me, Reg, that he wished for peace and that he couldn't... couldn't find it face to face because the thought of rejection was too much. He didn't come to me to ask for help, to ask for protection, because he didn't know how, because he was scared I was going to say no."

 

Setting a hand on Marc's shoulder to squeeze, Regulus held his other hand out for the letter, eyes wordlessly asking for permission that Marc granted with a nod.

 

\--

 

Every word that Evan wrote showed a man wrecked by guilt and a desperate wish for redemption and forgiveness.

 

A man who saw no other path to achieve those than death.

 

It was when he came to the abstracts about his death and Evan's discoveries that Regulus needed to sit again, and he stumbled over to the couch once more, dimly aware of Marc following him silently.

 

_I found out what happened to Reggie. The whole terrible ugly truth. It was an accident really, just me trying to find a moment of peace in Lestrange Manor a few weeks ago. The Dark Lord had held a celebration because he had managed a big hit against the Ministry again and I stood there and all I could think about was my father and you and yours and... I couldn't take it, I just needed to find a place where my thoughts and feelings were my own._

 

_The Lestrange have a library that is half maze, probably to distract the right people from finding what is at the far back of it. Our esteemed current generation of special Lestrange brand of crazy themselves probably had never ventured so far back, judging by the dust. It wouldn't surprise me if Reggie found out what I did just right here. I stumbled upon the books and the scrolls and most of all the notes by pure chance, maybe the Dark Lord just thought no one would ever look there, not when Bellatrix is worshipping his every breath._

 

_He killed him, Marc. The Dark Lord himself, he killed Reggie. Because Reggie found out that he is not only a madman but a monster, a real monster created by pure evil. You probably don't know what a horcrux is, I didn't until that moment in the library, but even now I can feel my skin crawling when I just think of that word, when I think of the texts I read. Reggie must have found this and been as horrified as I am now, and somehow he must have dug deeper and found one of those terrible terrible things._

 

_I'm not gonna describe it in detail, I know you have your ways of finding more information, but just know that a horcrux is the darkest of dark magic and it can make one immortal. I have no idea how many there are but he needs to be stopped, he needs to be defeated because no matter what blood flows through your veins, no one should have that kind of darkness and power in them. It is just not acceptable._

 

_He killed Reggie. He stood before us all and promised retribution for the life taken from us but it was him all along, and I cannot stand another single day in his presence. He took Reggie from me. He ripped my best friend away from me, my brother, my... I'll destroy the texts and the notes, it's better that way and when this letter reaches you, maybe only after my death, then please please, no matter if you forgive me or not, just please make sure this information reaches the right people._

 

_The Dark Lord needs to be stopped. Don't do it for me, do it for Reggie's memory, he deserved so much better._

 

Regulus' face was wet with tears when Evan's words drifted off again in another direction and his heart was pounding in his chest, reminding him he was alive. Marc remained silent even when Regulus had no doubt that there was still words he wanted to say now, but he let Regulus finish the letter.

 

And it was the last sentence before the goodbye of a friend who had gone to his death not long after that really pulled the tears from him.

 

_A cup. There is a cup. That is all I dare to write in a letter. I don't know if it's the one that Regulus died for, I sure hope the blood I touched was not the one of the boy I cared more for than my own family._

 

Regulus' shaking fingers froze and his heart did right along with it. Evan had...

 

_I hid it. Somewhere safe. You're a puzzle solver, I trust in your abilities to find it and to seek a way to destroy it for good, and just maybe this one might lead you to others. Because there are, I don't know how many. The cup is in a place that Regulus and I knew like the back of our hands, and the only people we ever told about it were Adri, Barty and you. Our own little sanctuary, we were happy there, truly happy. And I wanted that happiness to guard this spawn of evil._

 

_I believe in you, Marc. Stop this. Fulfill what Reggie and I started, what we couldn't end._

 

_With love and goodbye,_

 

_Evan._

 

"He found one..." Regulus whispered and blindly set the letter down on the table, suddenly numb as he shifted to look at Marc, "Evan found Hufflepuff's Cup." Marc nodded, eyes red-rimmed and tears dried on his cheeks, Regulus supposed he didn't look any different. A woosh of Marc's hand had the letter disappear again, probably to the most protected place Marc had in the house, no wrong parties could lay eyes on this, should lay eyes on this.

 

Not when the truth about the horcruxes was in it. Not when Evan's pain and fear was laid so bare in it.

 

"Do you know where?" Marc wanted to know when Margarete came waltzing into the room, sensing their jumbled mess of emotions no doubt as she jumped up onto Marc's lap and then stretched out over Regulus as well. "You're here, I don't need to dive into memories to figure out what Evan meant."

 

"I know where it is."

 

\--

 

They gave themselves a few hours to calm down and settle their minds again, a few hours to talk about the good old times to stop being burned alive by this pain that Evan's letter had caused. Then Regulus sent a message to Remus to have a back-up at hand just in case something went wrong, even if he expected nothing to happen, he sent a notice to Dora at work as well.

 

Together with Marc, he stopped by Grimmaudplace to tell Liv that he was going out, hunting again, Sirius was not impressed to be told to remain behind but Regulus selfishly didn't want to be around his brother in this. Not when this was Evan's secret, and Evan's sacrifice.

 

They reached the beach when the sun was still giving out light but already shifting to set for the night, no one else was around, the place abandoned just as Regulus remembered it. He pulled Marc out of the sand and into the forest that kept this little corner of paradise shielded from the road and the far away villages.

 

He quietly led the way to a little cave but this one didn't bring any unpleasant nausea with it, this one didn't make his breaths come too fast, this one was too familiar, too filled with good wonderful memories.

 

Barely able to accomodate two young teenagers, it was more than a tight fit for two grown men and Marc and Regulus were crouching shoulder to shoulder at the back of it when Regulus drew a cut over the palm of his hand. He didn't need to question anything, he didn't need to think and ponder and wonder, he had always known Evan's head. All doubts were gone and vanished, he had always known Evan inside out, he knew what Evan would have done.

 

A replica made, just like Regulus had. Stored the replica where he had found the original, just like Regulus had. And then hid and sealed the real horcrux behind blood magic in a place with happy memories to guard the evil within, just like Regulus had.

 

He pressed his bleeding palm to the back of the cave, and the moment his blood touched the rock, the protection seals crumbled away and revealed the cache formerly concealed. Marc took down more wards and then reached for the cup, holding it in his hands like the dark horror it was.

"How would it have worked for me?" Marc still frowned when they crawled out again, cup clutched in Marc's hand, Regulus busy healing his own hand, "The blood magic. Why did it work for you?"

"Fourth Year," Regulus explained and grinned, suddenly overcome with something like giddy excitement, they had another horcrux, and though Evan was dead, he had helped in getting another step closer in destroying for good.

 

Evan had done good.

 

"Oh," Marc realized and then flushed scarlet, staring down at the cup to avoid Regulus' questioning eyebrow, "The blood brothers oath. I had completely forgotten about that." And then his head snapped up and he gaped at the closest tree, "Oh by Merlin, they could have waltzed into my house at any time in the war."

"You only protected yourself by blood magic? Marc!" Regulus argued and Marc looked almost sheepish when he glanced over to him, "Even I used more than that to protect myself and everyone thought me dead."

 

"Yeah, stupid move on my part," Marc grimaced and then held up the cup, "So, what do we do now with this?" He wanted to know and turned it around, looking over the old engravings.

"I still got basilisk venom in my office. It won't take longer than a few minutes, and then you can destroy it," Regulus explained and Marc gave a twitch.

 

"Me?"

 

"Yes, you. Evan meant for you to find it, so you get to destroy it. I'll be right back."

 

\--

 

"You shouldn't feel guilty over what you did or didn't do," Regulus said later when they were sitting on the beach, shoulder to shoulder, watching the last of the sun dip into the sea, the charred remains of the cup lying at their feet. "Maybe things could have done differently if we've only talked with each other. But in the end... you didn't turn your back on us alone, Marc, we also never tried to reach around it. You were still there, and we just accepted the cold shoulder. We could have all done something, this isn't your guilt to carry. Not alone. Evan, Barty, me... Adrienna maybe most of all, knowing about her true loyalities as we do now. Every single one of his made choices in those days, wrong ones, right ones. The only thing we can do now is look ahead."

 

"We'll live life to the fullest," Marc agreed with him, smiling as the last light of the sun disappeared and let the stars awake in the nightsky, in almost sync both of them dropped onto their backs into the sand, "For the passionate boy Barty once was. For the protective paranoid mother hen Evan never stopped to be. For their memory."

 

Regulus smiled, eyes flickering over the nightsky, Regulus the star was hidden behind the moon still, and according to his chards it would still remain hidden for a few weeks yet. Protected. Sheltered.

 

"Liv... " he began carefully after a brief pause between them, his heart telling him that Marc deserved to know the very last piece that Regulus had ever kept secret from him since reuniting with him, Marc turned his head to look at him, "Liv had a sweet response a while back when I called her my sun. She said that... if she is my sun, she would blind people from my existence during the day, and I told her that not from people but my demons. She keeps it away, the darkness, just by being there. She blinds others from seeing my weakness, this fear of not being enough."

 

"If she is the sun then Evan was the moon." Marc surprised him something fierce and Regulus took his eyes off of his star and instead looked into the dark eyes of his friend, "Doing exactly the same, just in the night. Hiding you at times, hiding you completely if you needed it. Always shining bright enough to distract at least but always also giving the chance for you to shine on your own. Not as blinding as the sun because your demons weren't as terrifying back then."

"I was in love with him," Regulus finally got the words out that he had wanted to speak to Marc in so long already, "I really loved him, and I think a part of me always will."

 

Marc didn't say anything else but "I know," then just reached over and patted Regulus' thigh for a moment and they went back to watching the stars.

 

\--

 

"Professor?"

 

Regulus turned around slowly where he had busied himself with packing the homework essays into a neat stack at his desk as the Third Years packed up their things and left the classroom. The only one remaining as the door closed behind Neville was Draco, sitting strangely subdued at his table, fingers tapping away on his knee.

 

"Is there something I can help you with, Mister Malfoy?" He wanted to know, leaning back against his desk and rolling down his sleeves again. Draco looked up at him and Regulus felt himself grow still when he saw the fear in grey eyes, a fear a boy was desperately trying not to show. "Draco, did something happen?"

"I got a letter from my mother," Draco began and there was nothing left almost of that arrogant little bastard, he was strangely still and tense, looked defeated and yes, scared. "She left."

 

Regulus froze for a good few seconds before he violently pushed himself away from his desk and crossed over to Draco, pulling up Gregory Goyle's chair to sit down in front of the still thirteen year old. "What do you mean she left?"

"Grandfather and father were fighting during Easter," Draco told him and frowned at something over Regulus' shoulder, "And...Grandfather wrote me yesterday that Father went too far and that he called the aurors but Father disappeared."

 

Having the Professor gape at his student wasn't so nice so Regulus managed to reign himself in but it was really the only reaction he could come up with to describe what he was feeling.

 

Had Abraxas really...

 

What had Lucius done now?

 

"And then today during breakfast I got a letter from Mum, only telling me that she needed to leave, that it might take some weeks until I could hear from her again," and when Draco was done explaining he finally met Regulus' eyes dead on. And for the first time this kid looked not like Lucius Malfoy's spawn but Narcissa's son. A son worried for his mother who never pulled stunts like that. "I know that... I know that my father did not show you the respect you are owed, Professor but... my mother always defended you against his arguments and I know you are her cousin. I just don't know what to do."

 

"Have you written your grandfather?" Regulus asked, his head spinning in the meantime, if Narcissa had left under such circumstances she had either gone to find Lucius – not something Regulus could reach into, he wouldn't force her, leaving him would have to be Narcissa's decision – or something had happened that had scared Narcissa into running away from Lucius' world.

"I did, I got his answer right before this class and he says he doesn't know what happened but that he is worried too. He'll look into it but..." Draco took a deep breath, he was visibly struggling with two sides in himself, the boy raised under Lucius' hand to never show weakness and the boy worried sick for his mother. "I'm not sure if he can find her."

 

"Draco," Regulus began and then hesitated for a brief moment, "I care about your mother. She was my favourite cousin and I do not want anything to happen to her, but if she went to find your father, there is nothing I can do. Nothing I want to do." He corrected and though Draco's face turned more guarded, Regulus still wanted to be honest with him, "I cannot accept what your father has done in the past, ancient and recent, and I can accept even less that he got away without any punishment."

 

"I know that he did bad things," Draco surprised him with an interruption, "Grandfather took me to the side during Easter break. He... he opened my eyes to a lot of things. I don't think my mother went after my father. They've been arguing over christmas."

"Over the Dark Circle?" Regulus jumped into a chance to get a reach into Draco's stubborn head now where the opening was presented to him basically on a silver platter, the boy only nodded. "And what do you think of this Dark Circle?"

 

Draco swallowed and Regulus regretted his question, he knew what he would have answered when he had been that age so he brushed over it.

 

"I'll find Narcissa, she'll be okay." He promised Draco and made mental notes to reach out to Aunt Druella immediately, and then Adrienna and Silvan and Sirius but first he had something else to say still. Leaning forward a little he caught Draco's eyes again. "Draco, I would never tell you what to think, or what to choose. I strongly believe in everyone having to make their own decisions, their own choices and standing by them. You alone decide which path you want to go on. But I do see it as my task to inform you of all details that surround making such a decision. Your father is not a good man, and I know that right now it is still difficult to hear that. I once was standing where you are now, only I was older already," and his friends were smart and able to help and discuss things with him but Regulus left that unsaid. "Where it concerns your father's wishes for your future, it is you who has to make a choice of where you're standing on them. I will only tell you this."

 

Draco was listening with rapt attention and Regulus knew this was a breaking point.

 

Through Silvan and Abraxas he had finally managed it, Draco was listening. This kid whose life had so many frightening parallels to Regulus' own life, even if the roles of pushing influence were exchanged from mother to father, he was finally listening.

 

"No matter what happens, no matter if you decide for or against Stevan's call and your father's pushing, there is always a way out. You are family, Draco, you understand?" A small nod followed Regulus' question and he reached out a hand to tip up the teen's chin, Draco having dropped his gaze onto the ground, conflict written all over his face. "The second you want an out, you reach out to me and I will _get you out_."

 

Draco nodded again, twisting his sleeves between his fingers.

 

"Alright, now, run, if Flitwick asks where you've been, you tell him I held you back."

 

"Thank you," Draco told him earnestly and then ran off, Regulus gave himself a moment to sink his head into his hands to just breathe before he closed down the classroom and hurried to his private quarters. One moment he was still reaching for the green powder, the next he was stepping into his living room and walking right into Adrienna.

 

"She's safe." Adrienna was talking before Regulus had even gotten air into his lungs to breathe, Liv was standing in the doorway of his study, "She's scared but she's safe. I brought her here immediately when she turned up on my doorstep. I don't know what happened, Reg, but she is really scared."

"Where is she now?" He wanted to know and Liv answered him with the guest room on the first floor, Regulus brushed gently past both women and took the stairs two at a time.

 

He found Narcissa sitting on the window sill in the guest room and she looked away from the window view when he stopped his haste rush up the stairs in the doorway. "You were right." Narcissa offered as a greeting, she looked almost as composed as she always did, not a hair out of place, only her eyes spoke another language. Fear and regret laid there. "You were right about him. And if I have to choose between him and protecting my son, I am always going to choose my son."

 

"I'll protect you. And I'll protect your son."

 

\--

 

Regulus laughed happily as the little boy pulled him from his study, angelic little face set into a determined scowl that he was quite sure the boy had picked up from his mother. Two stubborn Shears people pouting and scowling up at him now to get their wishes read from their lips and immediately fulfilled because he just loved them so much.

 

"Jackie, where are we going?" He wanted to know when Jack pulled him over to the couch in the living room where Liv was already sitting on, looking just as fondly confused as Regulus must have as well. Jackie pushed at him to sit down, patting his knees when Regulus had done so next to Liv, and that gesture was all Regulus himself and made his heart swell with warmth.

 

"Okay, we're both here now, Jackie, what is happening now?" Liv asked and Regulus didn't know if he should be alarmed or amused that she was just as clueless as him while Jack clumsily straightened his shirt. Watching Jack take a deep breath before he looked back at them was so adorable that Regulus raised an eyebrow but also smiled, it almost looked like there might be a Liv lecture coming.

 

Just from the tiny dark haired version.

 

"I want to ask you a very important question," Jack began and in a funny move, Regulus and Liv both leaned forward, curious. It was past Easter, which meant that Jack knew his birthday was coming up soon and he was old enough by now to want things. Though even if Regulus was spoiling him, he was not willing to buy Jack the elephant he couldn't shut up about since their last trip to the zoo. If there was a pet coming, it better fit into the house.

 

"Okay, my darling," Liv encouraged him after a short moment of silence, Jack looked from his mother to Regulus and then back again, his eyes were determined but also nervous, "What do you wanna ask us? Is it something for your birthday?"

"No, not for my birthday," Jack made clear and then he walked right up to his mother, leaning forward against her knees, "Mama, you love Reg very very much, yes?"

 

Liv raised a hand to stroke through Jack's hair, smoothing down the wild nest, "Yes, Mama loves him very much," she agreed with it and still looked confused, Regulus focused on Jack, on those sweet eyes throwing glances over to him, not knowing what to make of it.

"And Jack loves him very very much, too." Jack pointed out and Regulus felt the emotions rolling up his chest, it wasn't the first time Jack had said those words to him but to see and hear him pointing it out to his mother, it sent tears into his eyes.

 

"That makes me very happy, my sweetheart. Now, what do you wanna ask us?"

 

Jack bit his lip for a few seconds, determination visibly being crushed by nervousness and Regulus reached out a hand towards him, surprised when that hand was being grabbed by a quick small one in a tight grip around some of his fingers. "Jack wants to ask Mama and Reg if he can call Reg Papa?"

 

The question was barely out when Regulus' heart surely set out for a brief moment before it started up again into a frantic pounding. He could feel himself choking up while he stared at Jack still looking between Liv and him, worrying his bottom lip with his teeth and seemingly sweating up a nervous storm now. Liv turned to him and Regulus looked up to catch her eyes, saw the answers to the questions he couldn't ask with his tongue all twisted up in them, Liv nodded, tears swimming in her eyes.

 

Tears of pure happiness.

 

"Come..." Regulus croaked out and then cleared his throat, swallowed around this lump in his throat, this knot in his chest and this fluttering in his stomach, this kid wanted to be his kid, "Come here, Jackie." He held out his arms and Jack climbed up on his legs with little help from Liv, Regulus stroked hands through black messy chair and looked down at those beautiful eyes, "If that's really what you want, Jack, then I'd be so very happy to have you call me papa."

 

Jack let his hands fiddle with the buttons on Regulus' shirt, looking up at him with eyes that were no longer nervous, those eyes and that whole face really was grinning with joy, it was a miracle really that he wasn't bouncing in place. "Jack really loves Reg, and Jack do not remember Reg not being there. Jack wants Reg to be his papa." Liv made a sound that sounded half like a sob but Regulus couldn't look away from Jack's little face.

 

"Then I'll be your papa," Regulus told him and laughed quite shakingly when Jack finally bounced and then threw his bony little arms around Regulus' neck, squeezing the air out of him. Regulus wrapped his arms around that happily vibrating warm body and dropped his face into messy black hair, unable to hold the tears back. How could it be that he still found things he never knew to want so much until he already had them.

 

"Why are you crying, papa?" Jack wanted to know when he must have felt the wetness at the side of his head, he squirmed to pull away and look at him but Regulus couldn't let go of him just now. Thankfully Liv came to his help, a hand rubbing gently over Regulus' arm.

"Your papa," and yes she was so close to crying, too, happiness having her voice thin and trembling, "Your papa is so happy right now, Jack. Sometimes grown-ups cry when they're really happy," Liv explained and Regulus broke out laughing when Jack unknowingly deadpanned a rather fitting, "That is weird."

 

He pulled back a moment later and smiled when Jack patted at his tear stained cheeks, he was the happiest man in the world that evening.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Upcoming: The big already hinted conversation between Sirius and Regulus, the brothers finally talk about light and heavy topics, some questions get answered.
> 
> And some action happens.


	10. Act III - A Love's Strength - Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really like how this turned out

**Chapter 2 – Family In Times Of Trouble**

 

"Why did we come out here?" Sirius wanted to know and finished his question with a huff when he slipped in the sand for a moment before finding his balance again rather quickly. Around them there was only nature, a long empty rocky beach and rolling hills of grass, the closest sign of civilisation was a wizarding village maybe an hour walk to the North.

 

Regulus smiled at the sharp ocean breeze, closed his eyes for a moment where he had stopped maybe four feet from the water's edge, sounds of breaking waves and cawing birds in his ears. He took a minute before answering his brother's question, "We came here because this is the sole place where I can be sure to scream at you without anyone sticking their nose into our business." Sirius stopped at his side with a snort, "We're gonna need it, believe me."

 

"Oh, I don't doubt it," Sirius chuckled, Regulus could see him looking around from the corner of his eye, "Just surprised at how isolated this is here. I've always known that you appreciate privacy but this is quite a bit extreme, even for you."

"Evan and I spent two weeks out here before Seventh Year. Everyone was breathing down our necks and Barty and Adrienna had fucked off with their mothers," Regulus explained quietly and smiled in memory of two weeks where no one had told him what to do and what not to say, "And I came here after the cave...well, not directly, when it became clear that I would need some time to lay low. A few months here, and then in Cass' cottage."

 

"So, even though you left the cave alive, you might have still died and no one would have ever found your body." Sirius pointed out and though Regulus winced he also nodded, it was the truth afterall, he hadn't been in a good condition at all when Kreacher had tended to him out here in a magical tent. All spells created by Kreacher.

"Was it difficult," he asked when a thought popped into his head, prompted by the direction Sirius had taken the conversation, "not to know what had happened or why there wasn't a body?"

 

"The first was harder than the second," Sirius confessed and Regulus waved the shameful look away that he was sent, he had heard from too many sources about what had happened to too many missing people, Fenwick was the best example. "Every side seemed to be saying a different thing back then. Voldemort's rows were of course blaming the Order, which...I wouldn't call it stupid but you were hardly a most wanted case, they would have attacked you but never killed you, especially not in '79. The Order blamed Voldemort. James and Remus blamed Bellatrix, called it 'training gone wrong' behind my back. And the official statement of course was an accident, wrong place at the wrong time, just like with Dad. Wasn't like they could announce that a boy just weeks out of Hogwarts was a Death Eater, that would have meant acknowledging that they failed to keep Voldemort's influence _out_ of Hogwarts."

 

"What did you think?" Regulus wanted to know, turning a bit around to fully look at his brother, hands popping up the collar of his coat, warming charms were wonderful but sometimes the mind needed some kind of actual physical addition to let it work, and just maybe it was a defensive mechanism, too.

"I didn't know what to think," Sirius told him, open for once, no guards up at all, "Why do you think I went out... _alone_...to confront Evan in the first place? I didn't buy any of the rumors flying around, and neither did Evan by the way. He promised me he'd ask around, I never heard from him again, so whatever he ended up finding out it either incriminated me or my friends."

 

"Or he thought that whatever he found out as the truth might cause more harm than good," Regulus reasoned in a complete instinctual reaction to defend his best friend, especially now where he knew the truth over what Evan had found out later. Something he wasn't yet ready to share with Sirius, so far Sirius only knew that another horcrux had been found and destroyed and practical as his brother was he didn't particularly care on how Regulus had found it.

"I think in the end I settled on the official version because it made it easiest to deal with it, there was a war going on, my best friends were expecting a child, Remus was struggling with everything and I couldn't be distracted by what ifs. Sorry if that sounds cold to you," Sirius apologized but Regulus shook his head.

 

"No, it's not cold. I think I get it, it wasn't that much different for me after I got back and had to come to terms with you in Azkaban. It didn't make any sense and everyone seemed to believe their own story the most anyway. I was numb and also angry, neither of which I could use to start a new life." Regulus gave his own thoughts on the matter and Sirius nodded in understanding, "I'm happy though, that you're here now. That we're both here now and that this time we're standing on the same side as trouble rises." Regulus pointed out and Sirius reached over to squeeze his shoulder. "Can I ask you something?"

 

"Of course."

 

"I want you to be honest with me, though, even if the answer might hurt me, you can't lie," Regulus insisted and Sirius narrowed his eyes at him in impatience, "The night you ran away...did you think of me even once?"

"I did," Sirius was quick to reply, voice hard but honest, "I was thinking of you, very much so. I spent the entire journey to the Potters stuck in the belief that I should have taken you with me, forced you if I had to. But if not that, then I hoped that me running away might work as a way to open your eyes, for you to see what was wrong with the old ways."

 

"It didn't really work out like that." Regulus pointed out a little unnecessarily, maybe there had been good intentions but the moment the door had closed behind his brother Regulus' fate had been sealed in his mother's mind. No way back, only one way forward. And for so long, Regulus had despised Sirius for it, for not giving him a choice, for leaving him behind, for truly abandoning him to a house and parents who only saw one purpose in him.

"Yeah, I saw that quickly, too. Was it Mum who pushed you?" Sirius wanted to know and dug lines into the sand with his feet, unable to stand still as always.

 

"Yes," Regulus answered and kept his eyes out on the sea, following waves to the shoreline, ever since his trip into memory times with Marc, the water scared him less and less, "all in the name of saving the family name and rebuilding respect and the right image. Barty was already head over heels in those ranks and Evan..." He stopped but Sirius had no trouble finishing the sentence for him.

 

"Evan jumped for you."

 

"Yeah." Regulus agreed and stuck his hands into the pockets of his light coat, "I wouldn't say that he would have kept out of it if it hadn't been for my steps first, his brothers were fanatics, but Evan joined with me. To protect me." He said it and then smiled, the guilt he felt upon thinking of Evan, it had dimmed to a shadow of its former self. Evan had still died believing him to be dead, believing that no one would forgive him in life but he had found a horcrux, he had done the right thing in the end, done a good thing.

 

\--

 

"What did Dad say to any of that Voldemort crap?" Sirius wanted to know when they were walking down the beach a little, he had even taken off his shoes and rolled up his jeans to walk in the water, Regulus rather preferred dry sand. "I never had any chance of asking him." Mostly because their father had basically done the grown up version of sticking his fingers into his ears and humming whenever the topic of the Dark Lord had come up with his children around. Regulus doubted his father had held his opinion back among his close friends, the people he actually trusted.

 

"Not much." Regulus answered hence and Sirius snorted, throwing a pebble into the sea in a wide arc, "He wasn't happy about it, I could see as much but he also didn't make a single move to stop anything. Silvan was only so much louder." Silvan had always been louder about everything, and Regulus had for the longest time thought that was the only sign that someone cared. Silvan had argued fiercely with his sons and his little brother about their choices, he had never kept an opinion to himself, no matter whose presence he was in, Regulus would have preferred that to his father's stoic silence in his youth.

 

"Evan was his favourite, doesn't surprise me." Sirius mentioned casually and glanced back over to him, Regulus raised an eyebrow in a soundless invitation to just spit out what was on his mind, "Would you have listened to Dad if he had said no?"

"Maybe, I don't know," Regulus chose simple honesty, "Sometimes it feels like that boy from back then is a stranger, someone I never really knew. Silvan said no, repeatedly, that didn't stop me, I'm not sure Dad would have stood a chance."

 

Only one person had that power and he had only said 'I'll be right at your side.'

 

"If I had taken you with me that night, and be honest with me, too, would that have worked out? Would that have been enough to sway you? To get through the stubborness and stop you from taking that path?" Sirius wondered his questions out loud and Regulus grimaced, shaking his head, stopping for a short moment to pick up a few little stones himself, weighing them in his hand.

"No," was the easy verbal first reaction in response and Sirius smiled despite it, "You making decisions for me, it would have probably only made everything so much worse. I didn't like James Potter, even before he..."

 

"Reg..."

 

"No, you wanted me to be honest." Regulus brushed right over his brother's interruption, he was either going to talk about it or it was going to be pushed under a carpet until both of them were dead, now or never, "I didn't like him, right from the start, we were too different, that dislike turned into genuine hatred after you ran away. Ran away to _him_. I've never hated anyone as much as I hated James Potter, not back then anyway. Had you taken me with you, against my will, I would have grabbed the first chance I had to reach out to Evan, and I promise you Evan _would_ have gotten me back."

 

With violence or without, nothing could have been able to stop Evan if Regulus had called him for help.

 

"I have no doubt about it." Sirius chuckled, even if a little darkly, holding a hand and gladly accepting half of the stones that Regulus dropped into it. They stopped and Sirius made some more steps into the water until his ankles were covered by it. Regulus sat himself down on a big boulder that set half in the water and half on the beach.

"We were living two very different lives long before you chose to run." Regulus reminded them both of the divide that had started long before that fateful day when Sirius had been sixteen. "That day just set the nails into the already half buried coffin."

 

"You make a point." Sirius confessed, both of them sending stones flying, Regulus vaguely remembered that they had used to do this as children in Brighton during summer holidays. "I might have been able to hide you from Voldemort, hide you from Bellatrix and Mum but there probably isn't a spell on this earth that could have hidden you from Evan Rosier's paranoid too big heart."

"Don't insult him." Regulus got defensive immediately, he didn't really want it but it was instinct kicking in, like a kneejerk reaction he couldn't stop.

 

"I'm not insulting him." Sirius deadpanned over his shoulder back at him, "Hell, I'm complimenting him. It is a pity he stood on the wrong side, though I admittedly never understood why he didn't just stop after you were dead, he was hurt by it, even I could see that." Sirius was talking and Regulus' hand froze in mid air, mid throw, "He could have made a real difference if he had just switched sides, or even just staid the fuck out of the war all together. I just don't get it, his views weren't as radical as Silas' or Bellatrix' and all those other fanatics', why not just turn his back on it after he lost you..." And then Sirius noticed how he lowered his arm and shifted in place, frozen turning into a twitchy, frowning and turning half around, Sirius cocked his head to the side, "What? Why are you getting squirmy?"

 

"Evan wanted to defect, wanted to leave it all behind." Regulus got out with the recent discovery and Sirius' eyes went wide, arms dropping down to his sides. "Sarena Rosier told me weeks ago that she had heard her mother and her brother arguing about it. I finally went to Silvan two weeks ago, I needed answers, I needed to know if there was truly proof like Stevan Rosier had insisted to his mother." His explanation was met with Sirius walking towards him, stopping with his shoulder right next to Regulus' knee.

 

"And there was?"

 

"A letter, two actually." Regulus confirmed and dropped his gaze onto the plain gray stones in his hands, easier to look at then his brother's inquisitive eyes. "One written to his Dad, the other to Marc, both never sent but Silvan's saying only one thing. He needed out, he couldn't take it anymore and needed to leave." Regulus was proud when his voice didn't crack, he either had himself more in control or part of him had worked through the revelation already. With Liv he had barely gotten a sentence out through his tears, tears of relief and pain. "Silvan thinks Evan wrote that maybe only weeks before his brothers and him ran into Moody. Marc's letter is even more explicit. And worse. Evan found out...at least parts of why I 'died', and he couldn't take it."

 

He couldn't talk about the horcrux, not without safe walls around himself.

 

"Oh Merlin," Sirius gave a sigh and a hand to squeeze Regulus' knee, Regulus raised blue eyes again to meet his brother's steely gray ones, "how are you doing knowing that?"

"Honestly? I'm kinda surprised it hurt that much." He confessed and sent a stone flying again, "Barty is dead." A news brought by Dora a few days ago, after the guards in Azkaban had taken their sweet time to inform the official authorities, Barty had died months ago. "I could make peace with that and I thought with that strength, with Liv in my life now, I would be able to make peace with Evan as well. But knowing that he wanted out, that he wanted out because of me while I was still very much alive and not dead... it hurts to have been so helpless, to not have known that I could have saved him. That I could have just done _something_."

 

It was a bit double standard to sound like this now when he had told Marc to not think along those lines but Evan and Regulus had had promises between each other, 'the two of us until they put us in the ground.'

 

"You did, in a way," Sirius pointed out to him and let go of his knee to lean back against the boulder, flipping stones again as well. "Evan died knowing he had made a mistake, he died wanting to make at least something right. Forgiveness in death, not the first time I heard that concept before," Sirius mentioned and Regulus was tempted to throw a stone down the back of his shirt.

"That is of no comfort to me, Sirius." He responded to his brother's try of comforting and Sirius leaned his head back to show him the eye roll.

 

"I'm trying, man. Gimme a break."

 

And Regulus laughed.

 

\--

 

"How close were Evan and you exactly, Reg?" Sirius's question caused Regulus to nearly stumble and faceplant into a sanddune, blurted out as it was without any warning whatsoever after a spell of comfortable silence between them. Regulus straightened up again when he was sure his balance hadn't gone down the drain and blinked at his brother just long enough for his tongue to uncurl from the shock, Sirius patiently stared at him.

 

"How close were Remus and you, Sirius?" Two could play at that game, Regulus decided in a true grown up move, and Sirius scowled at him for just a brief second before he turned twelve, too.

"Don't answer a question with another one. I asked first." He insisted, even pitching his voice a bit higher, both of them needed to laugh again, moving on again with grins.

 

Regulus was still shaking his head in amusement when he felt comfortable enough to answer with the simple truth, "Evan and I were friends, best friends, brothers. I dare say it's a connection you can understand very well if one looks at Potter." He made the comparison and then cringed right away because if that held fully true Regulus would regret it.

"But you wanted more." Sirius caught onto what had been written between the lines and though Regulus had no trouble talking about it anymore, he also didn't want to make it that easy.

 

"What I wanted or did not want in the past is of no consequence anymore." He told his brother, because that was the truth as well, Evan was dead and gone, and Regulus wouldn't ever want to miss Liv and Jack in his life. Never. And Liv and Jack hadn't replaced Evan, they were just there in his heart now, as well, without diminishing in any way how Regulus felt about Evan.

"It is for me." Sirius protested the claim of no importance, "Regulus, come on, we went through shit, and now we're facing shit again. Is this really the time to keep secrets still?"

 

"If I answer your question, you are going to answer mine." Regulus made clear because he was getting a little sick of this question mark hanging over the multitude of looks exchanged between his brother and Remus. It was like Samentha and George Weasley all over again, and they at least had the excuse of actually being teenagers.

"Fine." Sirius said and then rolled his eyes, sticking out his tongue when Regulus kicked at him.

 

"Yes, I loved Evan." Regulus confessed to those three magical words, "A fact I never told him before you bear down on me with that question, too." He added before his brother could even take in air to breathe again, "It was very one-sided, _believe_ me." Evan had never liked boys like that, he hadn't really been into the dating thing alltogether after Adrienna and the fiasco of Fourth Year. Though apparently Regulus must have missed something there, otherwise they wouldn't have the real chance that Sarena was Evan's daughter in the first place.

 

"Remus and I were together," Sirius cleared up as well, finally giving confirmation to the guesses Regulus had had, "sixth year until a few weeks before James and Lily went into hiding. And we're... we're trying to built something again now..." Regulus didn't ask him why they had broken up, he knew enough about the tension and the unanswered questions and the suspicions. "Does Marculus know?" Sirius caught him off guard with an added question after a brief pause and he twitched to a stop once more, causing his brother to turn around when he had only noticed after taking another step forward.

 

"Marc?!" Regulus wanted to know, mind whirring a little because that wasn't the name he would have expected to come up first along with that question That's a weird first choice to ask after."

"I assumed Liv knows for sure." Sirius pointed out and Regulus was almost too happy to note that his brother saw Liv as such an integrated part of Regulus' life that no secrets were assumed anymore. That was such a good thing.

 

"She does," he confirmed only because he wanted to say something, "She accepted it like she did so many other things from my past. She's even sad she will never get a chance to meet him, really meet him. I showed her memories, it's just never the same." Sirius patted his arm, Regulus knew that Sirius was certainly planning to show Harry some memories of the boy's parents once the summer break had started.

 

"I picked Marc because the two of you are close." Sirius explained his choice then, quite unprompted, too. "He quite obviously stepped into that Evan shaped hole in your life." And ouch, shouldn't have stepped into that trap, Regulus supposed as he felt some roll up his chest that he needed to fight down again before answering.

"That Evan shaped hole in my life is still there, and it will be there forever." He made clear and Sirius winced, grimacing when he must have realized how stupid of a sentence that had been from him. "Marc and I have been friends for longer than Evan is dead, and yes, we are closer now than we were back then but I didn't replace Evan with him. Nor did Liv. And yes, he knows."

 

"That's not what I am saying." Sirius got on the defensive immediately, it was still a little offthrowing to have him so quick to apologize and backtrack now. He had never been like that in the past, Sirius had only pushed and pushed and pushed, Regulus knew that from his own childhood and from Remus' stories. The Potters' death, Pettigrew's betrayal and Azkaban, it had changed so much in his brother, without entirely cutting away who he was.

 

"So don't imply it." He played along the riling up game just a little bit because it was fun and this whole emotional laying bare business was a bit unnerving as well. Sirius though took it a little down the wrong pipe, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Can you just for once not get testy over everything. I am just trying to understand." He argued and Regulus sighed, of course this one time he wouldn't get it. Stubborn idiot.

 

"Sirius..."

 

"Alright, you think it's so easy to understand you then answer me one simple question." Sirius demanded and Regulus nodded, giving his brother the wildcard because he wanted to appease him and have him calm down again. He couldn't have known that his brother took the gifted wildcard and ran _wild_ with it. "Why did you hate James?"

"You hated Evan and Barty." It was instinct, it was a complete instinctual reaction to spit that out and Regulus felt terrible for it. They looked at each other and it was like there were suddenly three ghosts standing in this small gap between them, creating an impossible to bridge canyon.

 

Fuck, why had is brother asked that question? And why had Regulus brought Evan and Barty into it, why, fuck, why?

 

"Don't evade the topic." Sirius deadpanned in a growling voice, eyes fixed on Regulus' own like a hook, "I admit to never liking Crouch very much, but I didn't downright hate him until he took the mark and became Bella's pet." Fair enough. "And you might not believe it, but I didn't hate Evan," Sirius told him, voice softening a little, "How could I ever hate the guy who was protecting my baby brother, always at his side, always having his back, even against Walpurga Black. I didn't hate him, not until he killed Benjy! James killed none of _your_ friends, actually James never killed anyone."

 

Of course, Saint Potter was too perfect for even that.

 

Mischief, not murder. He probably had a shirt with it, too.

 

\--

 

_The game was over and the red and gold crowd was cheering, Regulus didn't hear any of it, his ears were ringing, the only thing he could see was red, red, red. His chest was burning with white hot anger and his limbs were vibrating with pulsing fury. He was able to make two steps away from the spot where he had landed and then there suddenly was a pair of arms pinning his own to his chest, holding him tight, holding him back. Another pair of hands got wrapped around either side of his face and Regulus saw green, green, green and violently almost snapped out of that tunnel in his head._

 

_"Hey, hey," Evan was calling out and then slapping his fingers against Regulus' cheeks when he still wasn't reaction in a way Evan wanted him to. The anger was still hot and burning, rolling around in his stomach, lashing up into his chest, making his hands curl into fists again and again. "Hey, look at me, Reggie, just me." That order was easily followed and Regulus took a deep breath when Evan's thumb dug against his cheekbones. "There you are. He's not worth it."_

 

_"Did you..." Regulus began to growl out but Evan shook his head, took a step closer even so he could lower his voice even more, at Regulus' back Barty was a still rock for once._

_"Breathe, Reggie. I congratulate you on finally having lost your patience with Potter but there is a time and place and this is seriously not it." Evan reasoned with him and Regulus whined, with the adrenaline fading he could feel the throbbing at the back of his head now._

 

_And no one, no fucking one could tell him that that stunt had been an accident._

 

_Potter had thrown the fucking Quaffel at his head with full purpose and intention to keep Regulus from getting the Snitch, fucking Gryffindors._

 

_All around them the celebrations of Gryffindor finally winning the Cup again for the first time in ages were in full swing and there was fucking red and gold everywhere and Sirius and damn Potter were carried on the shoulders of housemates. Regulus wanted to scream._

 

_He was so fucking angry, always the bloody got everything on their sides, even the freaking rules, even the fucking referee._

 

_"Come on, breathe." Evan repeated and Regulus slumped forward, the unfairness was a sting, a burning sting, of course Saint Potter would not leave his final year without finally winning the Cup, of course not, not when he was Captain. What would the universe do if the guy didn't for once get everything he wanted. "Alright, you need a cold shower," Evan decided and then made a gesture towards Barty that clearly meant to let Regulus go._

 

_Free given chance._

 

_Regulus made a dodge around Evan the second Barty's hold on him was gone but Evan was quicker than him in his rage filled tension and Regulus couldn't even make a single step out of reach before Evan had him pinned back to chest. Arms tight around Regulus. "Snap out of it. Not in front of the entire freaking house." Evan hissed at him, lips nearly at Regulus' ear, "What do you think will happen if you have a go at each other without your wands? Do you want everyone to see your arm? Come on, cold shower and then you can vent back in the common room, you'll have a brilliant willing audience there."_

 

_"I hate him."_

 

_"I know."_

 

_Evan let him go again but kept both hands tight on Regulus' shoulders as he steered him off the field and towards the Slytherin locker room. Barty followed them with their brooms. They took showers in silence and got changed in even more silence, a mood that the whole team took on, all of them rushing out the second they were done, too afraid Regulus' bad mood might mean Barty blowing up at them for breathing too loud._

 

_When it was just the three of them left and Regulus couldn't get his tie fixed without strangling himself, Evan casually slapped them away and did it for him. And then he just pulled Regulus into a hug, "Four more weeks. And then you never have to see him again."_

 

\--

 

"So what did he ever do to you?" Sirius wanted to know despite Regulu having spaced out there for a good moment, caught in a memory that was just one of so many, "For you to _hate_ him so, even more than a decade after he died." If Regulus was capable of loving Evan just as much as he had at seventeen more than a decade later then he was sure as all hells capable of hating James Potter in just a strong intensity. Bracing himself against the argument that needed to happen to know, needed to finally get out in the open if they ever wanted a chance to get over it, Regulus looked into his brother's eyes.

 

"He took my brother from me."

 

"That cannot possibly be the reason for it." Sirius was all up in arms right away, eyes blazing and Regulus gritted his teeth. "You had Evan, you've _always_ had Evan. The two of you were friends and thicker than thieves long before I ever met James. Attached at the hip before the two of you could even walk!" Regulus blinked a few times, a little bit shocked over his brother's outburst, seems like there had been more than just a Potter-sized bomb sitting between them.

 

"Evan wasn't my brother, **you** were." He went with a calm approach, knew that the second he raised his own voice now, the whole conversation would be lost. "We were supposed to stick together against the shitty life our parents led with each other and humanity in general. And even when all of this Gryffindor divide happened and I was forced to listen to their raging for weeks and months, I still thought that you would not forget about me, that whatever friends you made in Hogwarts would not lead to you forgetting I _existed_ , that I was still there, too." Sirius frowned upon hearing his words, jaw working but for once he held himself back until it was his time again. "But then came christmas and you couldn't talk about anything else but _James Potter_. Potter here, Potter there, Potter fucking everywhere, you didn't show an ounce of interest for how miserable I was."

 

"You fucked off to Rosiers the day after christmas." Sirius was quick to retort and Regulus' mind jumped back more than twenty years. Jumped back to him going to his father on the evening of christmas day, handing over the invitation for Regulus to spent some days with the Rosiers, Orion had of course been only too happy to say yes, he hadn't known that Regulus had almsot begged Evan to find a way for him to leave the house for two days already.

"Because I couldn't take the fighting anymore!" Regulus defended himself and yes, there was that damn voice raise. "Has there ever been a thought in your thick head that some people just maybe hate it? The arguing, the violence, the threats. The screaming. That was my _family_ , Sirius, and yes, it was a fucking terrible one, but I still didn't want to lose it. But Mum and Dad were either arguing with you or about you, someone was always screaming and you didn't once ask me how I was doing with it. You didn't care."

 

"That's not right," Sirius immediately shook his head and took a step closer, "and not fair either. I cared, Reg." he emphasized and his hands twitched as if he wanted to reach out but didn't know eaxtly how or if it would be welcomed, Regulus wasn't sure himself.

"Then you had a very sucky way of showing it." He told his brother who closed his eyes for a brief moment, clearly hurt but Regulus couldn't not say it. "When I came to Hogwarts, when that hat put me into Slytherin, I saw your face and I saw the shame in it. And I still cannot understand, I still can't wrap my head around it how you could blame _me_ for it. It's been twenty years and I just can't understand. What did you expect was going to happen?"

 

They should have had this conversation twenty years ago. Maybe it wouldn't have changed a thing, certainly not their circle of friends, but they should have had this conversation when they were eleven and twelve and not in their mid thirties.

 

"Honestly?" Sirius asked into the sky but he was smiling a little when he looked back at Regulus, "I was kinda rooting for Ravenclaw." Regulus' eyebrow ticked up, of all other houses Ravenclaw would have certainly been the one least likely to cause his mother to drop dead, but...

"And how was that gonna solve anything?" He wanted to know, "I doubt I would have made different friends as a Ravenclaw." Mostly because he had had Evan, and it had been Evan who had known Barty a little and pulled him in, and then Adrienna. The only one who had been added to their group by Regulus' efforts alone had been Marc and Ravenclaw would have only made that more certain. "I doubt a blue tie would have changed anything in my path. Thinking as narrowminded as that, Sirius, is why so many Slytherins ended up as Death Eaters in the first place. That is dangerous thinking... And anyway, Andy was a Slytherin and you never condemned her for it."

 

That was an argument he had often had with Evan and Marc, why his brother was condeming him for a green tie but had never done so with Andromeda whom he loved to pieces.

 

"None of this explains why you hated James so much right from the beginning." Sirius was eithe slow on the update or really not seeing what Regulus was getting at, "I was talking about Remus just as much and Remus and you are buddies now." Well, yes, right, but they became friends after they had both thought to have lost everything, when their anger over Sirius had bonded them together.

 

"Remus never hurt me or my friends." That was also a good point coming to mind, Remus might have been the brain behind many Marauder pranks and certainly the one always on the lookout to get them out of trouble again but he had never caused harm to any of Regulus' friends.

"James didn't..." Sirius started just like Regulus had expected and he glowered at his brother, interrupting him right away again.

 

"Seriously? Are you really that naive, brother? All those incidents in Quidditch weren't accidents, Marc and Barty actually spent nights in the _hospital wing_ because of Potter." The 'and you' was left unsaid, Sirius knew he had done a lot of shit and Adrienna and him had had a go at it some weeks ago. "I could have died several times if I had been only a fraction less of the great flyer that I am. He was not the _saint_ that he still is in your head." Regulus went for the jugular because he wanted to, because just once he really wanted to hit back.

 

"I know that James had flaws." Sirius' response was calm though, anger out, frustration out, for both of them and it felt good.

"You never showed _that_ before." Regulus told him quite honestly and Sirius nodded, grimacing a little because it was true, James Potter had been on a pedestal in Sirius' head that no one could have reached, and probably still never could.

 

"Do you feel better now?" Sirius wanted to know after a moment of them both staring off into the forest and out on sea respectively, and Regulus nodded because he did feel better. "Alright, so let _me_ talk for a moment."

 

\--

 

"You know, I don't remember that much about our childhood anymore. Blame Azkaban, blame the drugs, blame the alcohol, blame my hatred or our parents. But in those I have, good and bad, it's... it's you and me and a blond head right at your shoulder. Evan was your best friend from the first moment our father and Silvan Rosier set you in the same room." Sirius painted a picture and Regulus couldn't meet his eyes because he was right, they had enough pictures to prove it.

 

"The two of us, we were close, we were friends but we never really fit. I was too loud and too wild, and you were quiet. I wanted to go and run around and find things and have adventures and do stupid things. You wanted to read a book or learn about something you had seen outside." Sirius gave an almost perfect characterization of them. "I think at one point I just realized that I couldn't force you to be my buddy. So, I stopped dragging you around with me. On family outings or get-togethers, you stuck to Narcissa and and the grown ups and I got up to crazy forbidden stuff with Andy. And Merlin beware, even Bellatrix was more fun than six year old you."

 

Regulus laughed, a full on belly laugh for Sirius' reluctant and barely straight faced confession. Just went from seriousness to full on hysterical laughter from one moment to the next, leaning against his brother when he was swaying with it.

 

"Oh, you remember that... I think it was Christmas Eve, and we were at Aunt Druella's and Narcissa had this really... shimmery silver dress?" Sirius wanted to know, half laughing himself already, lips curled into a grin when Regulus got himself under so much control again that he could at least stand up by himself.

"Right," he agreed, grinning himself, "It was all glitter and feathers and sparkling. She looked so like the baubles on the christmas tree." He remembered thinking that he didn't want to stand anywhere close to his favourite cousin for once when the cameras were brought in, he didn't want to get blinded. "She loved that dress. What was that spell again that Bellatrix used?"

 

"I don't know the words anymore, all I remember is pulling you behind Dad and then laughing so hard while glitter exploded everywhere." Sirius recalled and both of them were laughing, "And it just kept on coming. Narcissa was screaming and Aunt Dru couldn't barely breathe she was laughing so much."

"We didn't only have bad times," Regulus summarized for both of them when they could breathe themselves again.

 

"No, we didn't." Sirius agreed, smile still on his face even when he turned more serious again, "But when things turned to shit as they so often did, Dad locked himself away into the study, Ma raged and you were granted the escape to see Evan. I really wished I had had that, too, maybe I wouldn't have been so bitter then when I went off to Hogwarts."

"You could have come with me anytime," Regulus excused his many trips to find peace in Rosier manor, he had been a child basically allergic to violence and fighting. "No one would have sent you away. I don't think Evan would have complained."

 

"That's the thing, little brother," Sirius began with a look in his eyes that was still light so Regulus didn't grow tense or worried. "I didn't want Evan. I didn't want to share your best friend. I wanted my own, someone who knew me so well as Evan did you right from the start. Someone who knew how I was feeling from just glancing at me, someone who stood up for me against my own terrifying parents. When was the first time that Evan told you 'the two of you until the end'?"

 

"I think we were seven."

 

"Was it too much to ask for a little boy to want to have a friend like that, too?" Sirius asked him and Regulus shook his head, "I never blamed you for anything. I was frustrated, I was envious and lonely but I never hated you for it. If that was ever the impression you got then I am terribly sorry."

"Then why pull away? Especially after you ran away to Potters. You never even looked at me anymore, I was no longer out of the line of fire when it came to pranks. You treated me like I was dead to you." Regulus argued, softly really, like Sirius had put it earlier, he was only trying to understand.

 

"I was worried at first, worried what was gonna happen now. To you. Dad sure wouldn't start being all caring suddenly and Mum would certainly unload all expectations on you," Sirius drew the picture and Regulus could only nod to everything, "But... and it might sound stupid but... I knew that even if I lost you to those people, Evan would still have your back and he did. That night in Trafalgar Square when I saw you under that mask... I was horrified, yes, angry, yes as well but I was also counting."

 

"Counting?!"

 

"I got up to five, and then Evan took you away. He's been a better brother to you than I could have ever imagined of being." Sirius admitted and Regulus didn't know what he was supposed to be feeling, let alone what he could say, so he chose something in the middle and went for a hug. Sirius was only too happy to return it, letting him drop his face against his shoulder and wrapping arms around Regulus. "I'll make a better job the second time around, I promise you that. They're not gonna rip us apart again."

 

"Never again."

 

\--

 

"So..." Sirius began when they were once more standing down at the shoreline, just out of reach of the water, "Not that I don't enjoy awkward silence at times but what are we gonna do with Narcissa? I am more than content with letting my old apartment become a save house for escaping Death Eater wives but I'm not sure _she_ appreciates it that much."

"So that's the reason you're back in my house," Regulus laughed and Sirius glared at him, "I'm trying to figure something out, man, but... it's not to simple. She doesn't want to tell me what Lucius threatened her with so I have to create my own ideas over it. I asked her if she wants to make it official, get a divorce but she wants Lucius found and arrested first, and let me tell you the aurors are combing the country for him."

 

"Unless good old Lucy hid some animagus form from everyone all this time, it shouldn't be too difficult to find him," Sirius joked but stopped when Regulus sent him a side glance. "You told me yourself that Abraxas Malfoy cut off all money lines. What is Lucius gonna do if he runs out of money? His son is safe in Hogwarts and he is chased by aurors and hitwizards. They're even extended the arrest call to the continent. There is nowhere he can go."

 

"Don't tell that to me, tell it to Narcissa."

 

"Then can't we at least switch for just one weekend. Just the apartment to myself for one weekend," Sirius pleaded but Regulus shook his head, "Reg, I can't have her tell me to put a fucking coaster under my beer every single day. I am going to go insane."

"Sirius, she made a very difficult decision to turn her back on Lucius and she is scared for her son, awaiting a decision that Draco needs to make on his own. Narcissa is staying in hiding. At your place." Regulus added when Sirius opened his mouth again, "I can't bring her to my place. Liv doesn't like her, Narcissa is not Liv's fan either and Jack is confused enough as it is because Dora moved out."

 

Sirius huffed and threw his head back, Regulus left him to his frustration and instead watched the sun sink lower and lower.

 

"I miss James," Sirius added after another long pause, his eyes a million miles away and Regulus could understand so well, "more than ever as this chaos unfolds. We had each other's backs. We looked out for each other, in a fight, outside of it. I have Remus, I know that, and I would never want to miss him again, but... bad news come in and I still find myself looking around, trying to catch James' eyes to see what he thinks about it all."

"Yeah, I know how that feels." Regulus supported his brother in his grief, even if the people were different for them. "No matter the terrible things he has done, there isn't a day that passes that I don't still miss Evan. For me it's the worst when I'm researching something now, for the horcruxes or just something for my classes. I find something interesting and I still expect him to be right next to me. Fourteen and a half years, and I don't have the excuse of Azkaban. I should have moved on but I can't."

 

Silence fell over them, this time a peaceful one, both of them looking out over the sea and as thus not noticing the silvery white form approaching them with rapid speed from behind. Not until it slipped through them and manifested itself right in front of them again. Regulus jumped and Sirius twitched and drew his wand, but then both of them grew so very still when they made out Remus' patronus in the wolf that seemed stressed and on edge.

 

"Trafalgar Square. They're attacking muggles," Remus calm if already rushing voice announced and Regulus ensured himself of the weight of his wand against his lower arm, "We're not sure which group of evil."

 

How wonderful.

 

The Patronus disappeared once the message was delivered and Regulus looked over to his brother, "First fight on the same side?" Sirius rolled his eyes and then turned, Regulus did as well, disappearing from the beach with a crack.

 

Peace was over.

 

\--

 

Regulus appeared on Trafalgar Square with the most surreal feeling in his chest, stepped into the heart of another fight in this place but the person standing next to him was his brother now, was the person he would have wanted to avoid so badly back in the day.

 

"Keep your head down if you don't want to actually fight," Sirius gave him that one last chance of keeping out of it but Regulus shook his head, wand slipping into his hand from his sleeve as Sirius drew his own, getting ready to advance.

"I am done with sidelines." Regulus made clear and then followed his brother into the brunt of it, eyes flickering over faces and masks, Stevan and Thomas weren't there, they hadn't bothered with masks so far, they wouldn't suddenly start doing it.

 

This was either former Death Eaters and sympathisants still not understanding how to get into the Dark Circle or prove themselves worthy. Or Stevan had violently changed his tactics.

 

Other faces, other masks he recognized immediately and they recognized him even more, prompting especially one stunner to turn into a killing curse mid-movement.

 

"That clears that up then," Sirius grunted where he had pulled Regulus behind a wall, "Avery?" He proposed and Regulus let his mind conjure up memories of times long gone, of eyes glinting behind masks, of older men's threatening silence in dark shadowy corners of great mansions. Dominic Avery, only son of Emery Avery, for his part right hand man of Voldemort in his Hogwarts days as Tom Riddle. Both of them utter psychotic fanatics.

"Got it right." Regulus confirmed with a grimace, looking over to his brother who eyed him with a mix between concern and pride, eyes shifting back and forth as if he couldn't really decide which was the better one to feel in this moment.

 

"Do I have to stay at your side?"

 

They both grimaced a little bit, trust went a long ways but they had never fought side by side before, they had never been in a fight on the same side before. Arguments were saved from being made though when it popped a few more times. Remus, Marc and a flushed looking Bill Weasley appeared right along with some faces of people Regulus didn't know but his brother apparently did because Sirius visibly brightened up and looked years younger.

 

"Leave Avery to me, get the muggles to safety." Sirius called out when he already straightened up again and swung himself back to back with Remus, spells flying.

"Don't tell me what to do." Regulus snarled out and got back to his feet as well, shields conjured up because he disliked fighting for fighting's sake so much.

"Reg, I swear..." Sirius growled and was about to fall into a rant for sure but a sharp looking dark blue cloak appeared between them.

 

"We're already moving." Marc ended the argument before it could really start and wrenched Regulus after himself with a tight grip on his arm, "Seriously not the moment to discuss principles." His hissed advice was emphasized by curses flying around them and them having their approach on the cowering muggles cut short by having to go back to back, too, to defend themselves. "I can't just convince you to stay out of this, can I?" Marc tried but Regulus gave a short croaked laugh.

 

"No," he gave in a short clipped answer and let the wand in his hand cut through air, it was rather painfully obvious that his appearance had turned the focus mostly away from tormenting muggles. As good as that was for them. Traitors weighed higher on the violence agenda, nothing changed there. Killing curses and other dark spells were barreling his way from those who hadn't been engaged by Sirius, Remus, Bill and the other helpers. Despite his peaceful nature and his displeasure over the violence fighting could bring, Marc was a good duelist, and his defensive style fitted better with Regulus' own than Evan's offensive or Barty's agressive one had.

 

One thing became clear to him though then.

 

This wasn't the Dark Circle, these weren't Stevan's men.

 

These were former Death Eaters and Voldemort sympathisants and unmarked supporters who had either chosen to act on a united front again in light of the rising pureblood supremacy propaganda Stevan and Thomas were pushing on. Or they were even stupider than Regulus would have given them credit for by thinking acts like this could endear them to the Dark Circle leader.

 

Stevan Rosier had turned into a raving second Grindelwald but his standpoint on violence was almost admirable. Almost. The boy wanted to rule over the 'weaker minded and duller skilled', and one couldn't 'rule the dead'.

 

These men and possible women here didn't care about that 'rule', they were out to hurt... and kill, Regulus added when he barely managed to dodge another dark curse. Dominic Avery had zeroed in on him and when he snarled "he's mine" to another black cloaked masked figure trying to join in, Regulus had the ultimate confirmation.

"Did you ever do something to Avery?" Marc wanted to know in half exasperation, half hilarious confusion when they went side by side to slow Avery down.

 

"Not that I recall," Regulus called out and then he wasn't saying anything anymore when he stumbled over something on the ground and Avery's curse hit him right in the side, taking him off his feet and throwing him off into the air. He crashed down against a streetlamp, breath knocked out of his chest for a long long moment, stars dancing in front of his eyes. His right side burned, a feeling that was moving to his back as well.

 

"Reg!"

 

"I'm fine," he called back and turned to look towards Marc, just in time to see Avery break through Marc's defenses and sending him flying to the ground as well, not far from where Regulus was still slumped against the damn lamp. Marc landed hard on his chest, and didn't move anymore for so long that Regulus already feared the worst but then his friend moved his head and Regulus got his wand up again.

 

He forgot all about defensive spells and took out the real curses now, he would never go dark again, but fuck the nice play, there was a big gray area to pick from. He hit Avery twice but didn't manage more than the older man to stumble a little, not deterring him in the slightest from the path he was taking. In turn, Avery hit him again the moment Regulus had made it to his feet once more, prompting him to scream in pain and faceplant onto the concrete, pain lashing up his back when another curse hit him.

 

No swift ending for the big traitor.

 

This one was intended to be felt.

 

What _had_ he ever done to Avery?

 

Regulus panted hard against the ground, pressed one hand over the burn on his back and saw with growing horror how Marc was struggling to get up as well finally, completely unaware of Avery walking closer. He wanted to worn him but his throat was alive with fire and he couldn't stop gasping long enough to form words, the fingers around his wand were numb or maybe even half paralyzed, he could barely move his arm without screaming.

 

And Marc was already up on his hands and knees, and Avery was turning the wand from Regulus to Marc but kept his eyes on Regulus. Intention clear and obvious and no, Merlin no. Take him all the way, hurt him but don't hurt his friends, don't hurt him, don't...

 

"Crucio."

 

Marc screamed.

 

He screamed and screamed, convulsing on the ground and Avery was laughing.

 

"Stop it," Regulus somehow found his voice again, even if it hurt, tears in his eyes because of his own pain and the one he saw inflicted upon his best friend for being just that, a means to hurt Regulus, "Take it out on me. Not him!"

 

Avery stopped the curse, lowered his hand even, Marc crashed to the ground and didn't move anymore.

 

\--

 

Gritting his teeth hard against the pain threatening to pull him under, Regulus somehow managed it up onto his knees, panting hard, every breath a stab through his chest. He could see Avery raising his wand once more, his own arm too numb to even twitch up, and he was defeated, slumping over to his side again, waiting for the pain to spike.

 

His vision swam away from him slowly, sounds becoming muffled and he knew without a doubt now that the warm sensation on his back was definitely blood.

 

"REG! GET UP!"

 

That was his brother, screaming over the distance of the whole square but Regulus couldn't move anymore, he could only blink at Avery stepping over Marc's unmoving body, wand raised and only one spell on his lips no doubt.

 

Then suddenly there was the crack of apparation.

 

A figure appeared between him and Avery, long dark hair flowing freely in the wind and Regulus' chest gave a squeeze of horror and panic that was worse than the pain of his actual injuries. No, he wanted to scream, no don't do this, please don't do this. Spells flew and Avery cursed as he was forced back, Regulus forced himself up, and up, terror working his limbs now because he couldn't let this happen, she couldn't bring herself into this danger.

 

Not after he had just watched Marc be tortured.

 

Avery was forced to the left, further towards where Sirius and Remus were still handling three opponents at once, Regulus managed to get to his feet.

 

"Adri..." he yelled and flinched against the seeding hot burn in his throat, he pressed his free hand to his chest, made a step forward, "Adri, no..."

"No," she snarled out without looking at him, still letting her wand force Avery back, "I am not sitting at the sidelines like some knitting maiden anymore. You told me months ago the time may come to show one's true colors and here are mine. This scum is not going to get my little girl," she shrieked in the end, directed towards Avery who gave a grunt behind the mask, "I have had it with playing the docile wife who closes her eyes to everything. Fuck my marriage, and fuck neutrality! I will protect my daughters _myself_ now."

 

Of all the moments she could have made that decision, it had to be today.

 

"Traitors," Avery spit at both of them and he was surely intending to say more but a stunner hit him in the back and he kissed the ground, and standing behind them, having appeared without Regulus having heard the sound, Emmeline Vance lowered her wand, gray cloak still moving in the wind. All over the square cracks could be heard then, Adrienna whirled around again and Regulus caught her eyes, caught the worry in them and then he was falling, world going black around him.

 

\--

 

"...ribs. The rest will have to take a few days to heal on their own. I believe some soreness is to be expected as is bruising but he will make a full recovery, Ma'am."

 

"Thank you, Sir."

 

Liv.

 

"If you need anything, Ma'am, just let one of the nurses know. I've assigned one of my muggleborn nurses to Mister Black's care so you'll have no troubles in communication without Healer Tonks around," the unknown voice continued the explanation and he could hear Liv's repeated thanking before steps walked away and a door got closed.

 

Regulus needed a moment longer until he groaned and managed to blink open his eyes, Liv was hovering over him immediately.

 

"Reggie? Can you hear me?" She asked him with a trembling in her voice that he immediately hated terribly. He drank in the sight of her, a balm on the pain he felt, Liv looked okay if tired and so very worried. He wanted to greatly to cup her face, to assure her that he was alright but he couldn't even do more than twitch his fingers a little.

"I feel awful." He admitted quietly and Liv scoffed at him, worry taking a backseat for the exasperated fond annoyance only a mother could truly give.

 

"You _look_ awful," Liv gave him right back with half a smile and a hand coming up to brush through his hair, Regulus closed his eyes for a moment, basked in how good it felt, letting his mind catch up to the situation at hand. He felt awful, yes, but he didn't feel as terrible as he would have expected and the walls around him clearly promised St.Mungos. Liv pulled her chair closer still and sat down again, her fingers switching between stroking through his hair and over his temple and cheek.

 

"Where did you leave Jack?" Regulus asked first, there was no sign of him in the room and as much as he trusted Kreacher, he didn't want Jack to be alone without any adult wizards or witches around this close after a first real fight again in their world.  
"Andromeda took Jack with her. He's safe." Liv soothed that worry away and Regulus carefully leaned a little into her touch.

 

"Adrienna?"

 

"Giving statements to the aurors," Liv gave a report there as well and Regulus felt his breathing ease a little more, that had been fully unnecessary on Adrienna's part, "Dora is with her, said he wouldn't leave her out of his sight." And stupid, so stupid and reckless, and she didn't do either, not anymore. She shouldn't have given away her colors that way. Not when Marc... and oh, oh, Merlin...

 

"Marc? Is he okay?" Regulus wanted to know frantically when his mind was flashing with images of his best friend's too still body, ears mildly ringing with Marc's screams. He tried to struggle a little but Liv set a gentle hand on his chest and kept him down.

"He got hit badly. I can't repeat half of what Ted told me, but he's gonna be okay." She tried to bring comfort but without knowing what had been done, she wouldn't know the worry and questions plaguing Regulus' mind, physically fine, yes, but that wasn't the real danger here, "Silvan and Marc's father came down, they put security on your rooms."

 

Good to know he wouldn't be killed in his sleep then.

 

Reluctantly accepting that he would have to wait to get news on Marc with further details until he had someone with magic around, Regulus inquired about the others, "Did anyone else get hurt?"

"Nothing serious, scrapes and bruises." Liv could tell him there, her free hand moving down to interlace their fingers, "Sirius got his nose broken but I have a feeling that wasn't the first time, nor will it be the last."

 

Probably not.

 

It knocked on the door and Regulus nodded when Liv sent him a look, her "Come in" was followed almost immediately and Regulus grimaced at the thunder of disapproval on his brother's face as Sirius stepped into the room.

 

"Spare me the performance lecture until I can at least sit up." He pleaded without actually using the word and for a moment as he came to stand at the foot of the bed, arms crossed over his chest, Sirius looked like he might just ignore it and start anyway. But then he huffed, his face was marred with bruises and his knuckles were scraped, he had clearly let the healers only remedy the broken bones and shushed them away from the rest.

 

"Fine."

 

"Do you know what happened to Marc?" Regulus jumped for the question burning on his mind when that brotherly lecture had been dodged for the moment. Sirius sighed and leaned forward against the bed, as much as Regulus knew him now, his brother probably hadn't sat down and taken a moment to rest yet. He was an overworrying idiot.

"The Cruciatus happened to Marc," Sirius pointed out as if Regulus would be able to forget that, Liv let them talk, "he's still unconscious but they expect him to wake up soon. He'll be fine, it wasn't near long enough to cause any lasting damage." And there were the magical words Regulus needed to hear, he closed his eyes in relief and took some careful deep breaths. Sirius turned his next question to Liv, "How is this one holding up?"

 

"They fixed his broken ribs and the fracture in his collarbone and shouldersocket, as well as the burns on his back." Liv gave a good recollection of what the healer must have told her, leaving out the procedures they had used, Regulus would question the first healer or medi-witch stepping into this room for the full version. "He'll bruise like a peach and he will need some potions unless he wants to feel like a sore mess for the next two weeks." The 'and he'll take them voluntarily or so help me god I will make him' was left unsaid but not unheard, judging by the way Sirius' lips twitched into a smirk.

 

"I'm not a child..." Regulus complained and then shut up about when Liv glared at him, he turned back to his brother, "Is anyone else hurt?" Just wanting to be double sure, Liv might have overheard something in her worry or only seen people after they had been fixed and healed.

"Minor stuff. A cut, a bruise here and there." Sirius told the same thing as her though, "Remus went back to Hogwarts straight away once we knew Marc and you weren't critical, he wants someone to have a closer eye on the girls." Good call, relieving call, they needed to keep a really close eye on Julienna and Laureen now. The girls wouldn't be able or allowed to leave the grounds unsupervised anymore, not now where their mother had turned herself a traitor to her own husband and his friends. "Why the hells did Adrienna turn up? Whom does she have to defend her daughters from? They're basically pureblood princesses, none of that folk would harm a hair on their head."

 

Oh damn, this was not a conversation he was willing to have right now, and certainly not without Adrienna around. This was her secret and her secret to tell, even if Regulus would kick in the butt now until she did, again and again and again. Once he could do so without falling over again.

 

"Who is with Adrienna, Sirius?" He tried it with distraction, clearly seeing in his brother's eyes that it didn't work and was only taken because Regulus probably did look like utter crap.

"Silvan Rosier was here just long enough to ensure high security on this corridor before he went straight to the Ministry. He'll take care of Adrienna and she is with the aurors right now anyway, giving statements over everything she knows, Dora won't leave her side. And I've got Order buddies in the Law Enforcement Department." Regulus managed somehow to fight down his grimace, Sirius wouldn't like that right now, but Regulus didn't like to put his friend's safety into the hands of strangers, most of them reckless hotheads probably. "If we're any lucky, Adrienna's words might just sent multiple people behind bars."

 

"That's too much to hope for." Regulus staid rational, not while Fudge was still in his seat, even with impeachment proceedings started only last week. They hadn't found a successor yet, it was basically the council of advisors ruling right now and Regulus had the feeling that if Adrienna played her cards right, a third of that council might lose their jobs. "What's with Avery?"

"Caught, currently waiting for an express trial in the Ministry dungeons." Sirius couldn't have said better words and Regulus let himself melt back into the bed.

 

"It's begun, hasn't it?" Liv wanted to know, looking between both of them and without any agreement on it, Sirius and Regulus turned their faces grim. "What you two feared would happen?"

"Yeah, it has." Sirius agreed with her, loosening his crossed arms to raise one hand and drag it through his messy hair while he painted them the picture. "Two fronts, and we're all still scattered in the wind." Regulus pondered over those words for a moment before he caught his brothers' tired eyes and said words he wouldn't have believed possible only a few months ago.

 

"So let's change that."

 

\--

 

"A quiet place for a loud mind."

 

Regulus looked up from where he had been staring holes in the grass below his feet, he had been sitting out on the bench in his backyard for a good while already, thinking in the dim moonlight. Silvan approached on calm steps and then sat down next to him, leaned back with a sigh.

 

"Always did the heaviest thinking at night," Regulus confessed with a thin smile, "Used to drive Evan insane because I wasn't sleeping."

"Evan was never a nightowl. He used to fall asleep as a kid the moment one turned the lights off, and he valued sleep highly." Silvan recalled and Regulus glanced over to him, as always detecting the slight note of pain and grief in there. "I still remember how often I found you sitting in my study when you staid over, book open on your lap, no matter how old you were back in the day. You always looked at me and said 'he's already asleep again', like it was a crime to get tired when it was dark."

 

"Evan was the worst where it concerned midnight adventures or sleepovers, until we discovered coffee," Regulus added with a laugh and turned his eyes up towards the stars, faint as they were in the light of the city, "He loved coffee." Smile not vanishing from his face, Regulus looked down again and met Silvan's eyes, finally ready to ask that question that had been torturing him so much, one of many questions anyway but Silvan would only be able to answer one, "Is Sarena Evan's daughter?"

 

"Sarena is my granddaughter, that is all the world needs to know." Silvan replied and maybe this not giving a straight away answer was a recurring theme but Regulus had always been good in hearing the truth in words. He blew out a deep breath, dragged a hand down his face but his mind was set at peace, finally a riddle solved again.

"And I?" He couldn't help but push for more a little bit, even if his gut was no longer flipping out, "What about what answer I deserve?" This girl in question was trusting him to protect her, this girl was torn with questions over her own blood, Regulus wanted the _truth_.

 

"Evan didn't know until the girl turned up with her baby on our doorstep." Silvan explained and Regulus grimaced down at his hands, he could only imagine how that couldn't have hit Evan well. Adrienna had told him more than once that Evan had been reeling badly in the long months between Regulus' 'death' and Benjy Fenwick's murder, a surprise baby surely hadn't helped, "If he had known before you vanished, he would have told you, trust me in that, Regulus. I did not always understand or accept what he was doing in the end but I've always known that you were the person Evan cared most for in this world."

 

"I know, I believe you."

 

"He wasn't ready, not in the slightest, so Silas stepped up." Silvan painted the picture that Regulus had already had in his head now, he hadn't been kidding when he had told Marc that he couldn't see Evan with a baby, not at that time, and especially not under half a year of having lost his best friend, "Stevan was just old enough to not really get it where a baby sister might have suddenly come from and Silas and Denise had been travelling much in those days anyway, it worked out well, no one suspected anything. Evan loved her though, he truly loved that little girl... Regulus, Sarena and Adrienna's daughters are in danger now, and I do not know how to protect them. Theresa and Samentha at least have fathers still who will keep their daughters out of this mess, especially the Fawleys will close ranks around their children now."

 

"I know people." Regulus answered and looked back over to Silvan, conviction in his heart and his soul and hopefully in his eyes as well. He briefly glanced over to the room where his brother still had his room until he finished the renovations on his new place.

"Because of Julienna's true father?" Silvan hit it right in the dead center and Regulus nodded, tired of the ever increasing capability that Adrienna showed in dodging the name, he went right for blunt honesty. After everything Silvan was sacrificing, he deserved this.

 

"The Order of the Phoenix was a loyal bunch of people if you take out the trash." He gave an unnecessary reminder to Silvan who knew enough about the group of vigilantes without ever having had contact with them, "Benjy Fenwick had friends, lots of them. I will talk with Adrienna, will need to convince her still probably, but if we tell the truth to those people, starting with my brother and Remus Lupin, Julienna and Laureen will be safe. And Evan's daughter will be safe, too. I will make sure of it, Silvan, I will not see them hurt."

 

"We have to stop this Dark Circle."

 

Regulus nodded, so much was obvious, even if they were jumping around in the dark a little so far, he wasn't kidding himself, Sirius might as well be reforming his old gang of reckless idiots again, "What if stopping them means killing Stevan and Thomas?"

"I'd rather mourn my grandson than see innocents suffer again." Silvan clarified and it hurt him but he would push through it like he had done with his sons before, for the greater good and for Sarena most of all, "I lost a brother to Grindelwald, I lost another brother and all of my sons to Voldemort, I will not let my grandson become the next evil."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next Act's title is A Past's Reach and the first chapter of it will be titled The Dark Circle, so be prepared to see some confrontations.


	11. Act IV - A Past's Reach - Chapter 1

**Chapter 1 – The Dark Circle**

 

"Is everyone around then?"

 

Regulus looked into the faces of sitting and standing around the Slytherin Common Room, squished into every available spot because he had wanted them all together to get through this speech once and not several times. When no one looked like they were still missing someone, Regulus took a deep breath.

 

"What I want to talk to you about is something that relates to some of you more than others in this room but I still want all of you together to hear this. Because that is the one thing that can get you all through this. Together. You all know what I carry on my arm," and he tipped his left forearm with two fingers, he didn't single anyone out with his eyes, he just kept on looking around. This was something he wanted to get into all of their heads. "I never made a secret out of it, never tried to hide it. Everyone in our world knows anyway, Regulus Black, the Defector."

 

Some of the older boys gave him little smiles when Regulus met their eyes, the current group of Seventh Years was a really good year. All of them had plans for their future, boys and girls, even if said plan meant fucking off to America for a year and go wild. A plan was a plan, and none of those plans included Stevan Rosier or the Dark Circle, they remembered Stevan and Thomas as bullies from school, not some shadowy figures ready for some imaginary throne. It were the years below that that were worrying Regulus, that put question marks in his head.

 

"When I started at Hogwarts, You-Know-Who," he usually avoided using that ridiculous hiding of the real name but this was serious enough talking, he didn't want to traumatize the little ones even more, "he was already on the rise but his influence wasn't that great yet. Rumors, talkings, whispers, not even among the pureblood society people really could get a grasp on him and his motives. He had followers already, of course he did, men who went to school with him, who had been with him as this... vision had been born."

 

He had descendants of those men sitting in this common room right then and there, grandsons and granddaughters, great-nephews and great-nieces, he made it a conscious choice not to look at either of them.

 

"Things got rougher then, first on the outside. First attacks, the first disappearances. And then inside here as well, pressure from parents, pressure from family, demand to pick sides, to make a choice on where one was standing. When I was in Fourth Year, the dueling in the corridors started, that summer the tension outside of Hogwarts turned to war and when we returned to Hogwarts the war came with us. And it was... exhausting, terrifying really. You walked the corridors completely paranoid, always expecting something to come at you. There was a great divide that worse day by day, everyone got boxed into a drawer, slapped on with a sticker. You belong here because your tie is green, you go over there because you chose red. None of us had a choice because we were children left alone by those who could have really made a difference."

 

"But we're not," Marcus Flint spoke up into the silence from where he had squished himself into an armchair with Sarena. She had made an incredible recovery in the last weeks, gone was the ashen faced too thin girl who flinched away from everyone's eyes but her friends. The moment rumors about Stevan had stopped being rumors and instead gotten confirmed as the truth, Sarena's spine had been straight and steel again. The unknown had been eating at her, dealing with Stevan's turn to the dark side was something she could actively do, added to it that Regulus knew Silvan had come clean to her about the identities of her real parents. Sarena was strong again, more determined than ever to stay away from any Dark Circle echos and convincing others to do the same.

 

She had never looked more like Evan than now.

 

Had she previously been avoiding Draco like the plague was she now making careful approaches, something he obviously welcomed. In the weeks since Easter break, Regulus had seen him tugged away with Sarena and even Julienna in the library more and more often.

 

"No, you're not," he finally agreed with Flint's statement after a brief pause, "I told all of you, at the beginning of every year, that you can come to me with everything. That no matter how ridiculous you think your issues to be, I want to hear them. And that goes double and triple the times where it concerns any pressure you might have from outside. The only ones who make decisions over your lives are you yourselves, those were my words, and they are more important than ever before." Regulus made clear and this time he didn't spare himself the look into the faces of Death Eater children. "The Dark Circle is no longer some shadow ghost, they are there now and they are working on getting their numbers up. And all of you have a choice now."

 

He lingered on Draco for a moment, he wasn't standing among his circles of dumwitted friends for a change, instead he was framed by Julienna's Greengrass cousins maybe an armlength from Flint and Sarena.

 

"And I promise you there will come a time where you will have to make that choice." Regulus went on and smiled in apology over his hard tone when some First Years made frightened faces, "For some of you it will come in a few weeks, for others in maybe months or years, but that moment will come. And I can't make that choice for you, I won't, because it's your life and no one has a right to determine that path for you but you yourself. You are free to make your own choices, to make mistakes, to experience failure and success but there is one thing I want all of you to take into your hearts right now. You are not alone."

 

Regulus looked into these young faces, saw the fear in some, the determination in others, saw masks with a fresh layer of paint and masks with cracks like spider webs. He saw friends nudging shoulders or elbows. He saw couples exchanging looks across the room. He saw hands slipping into each other.

 

Most of all he saw a common room of Slytherins where no one was trying to hide, everyone was meeting his eyes, everyone was looking back at him.

 

"I'm here," he made it simple, let his voice be calm but carrying, "I'm here for you. And when that call comes, whether you answer with yes or no, I'll still be here. I'm not going anywhere. My hand will be waiting. I don't care if that call comes after you said yes or no to your parents, to your families, to the Death Eaters or to Stevan Rosier, you know where to find me, how to reach me. And I will answer. I will get you out. Everyone who regrets deserves a second chance but you have to make that choice yourself. Forgiveness always means forgiving yourself as well, for some it's the start of getting redemption, for others it's the final step. And none of you will be alone."

 

\--

 

He spent that Saturday down in the common room, with the weather dreadful as it was and him for once not having any homework to grade, it was the perfect way to show them that he really meant what he had said. He played chess, he played cards, he answered questions and he helped with homework.

 

He worked out a Quidditch strategy with Marcus and the team, some of the others budding in as well until they were bewitching little players in the middle of the common room and defeating Gryffindor over and over again.

 

Some of the younger ones were brave enough to ask for maybe a story or two from his own schooltime and Regulus was already considering to agree when seeing Sarena's and Draco's nearly glowing eyes of interest made him only more willing. So he sat there in an armchair, feeling like his grandfather in times long gone when the old manor in Edingburgh was still filled with so much family during holiday times.

 

Curious happy faces looking up and over to him. Pleasant comfortable silence over the left side of the common room. Pillows and blankets on the ground and just students sitting everywhere. He talked about making new friends, talked about his friends in general, about their quirks and their bad habits and all the good parts.

 

About Evan's protectiveness, but also his ridiculous fear of touching wet clothes.

 

About Marc's ability to have an answer to everything, but also his rather unhealthy tendency to prefer plants over people. (Marc's father had doubled his effort in pushing his sons to find wives and childrens, neither Marc nor his brother so far looked like following that wish was in any way a priority.)

 

About Barty's never diminishig energy, but also his hotheadedness and his wish to do first, talk later.

 

About Adrienna's quick razorsharp humor, but also her five million rules to sitting outside in nature.

 

He talked about Quidditch, about a Seeker's struggle as Captain. He talked about Potions and lost maybe more than half an hour on reminishing on everything tied to Horace Slughorn. Those darn parties and why his second greatest hope for his future as a teacher was to never ever turn into that.

 

He talked upon being asked by Draco of all people even about the not so beautiful parts, about a war seeping into Hogwarts, about a rivalry between Slytherin and Gryffindor turning bloody and violent. About a group of Marauders who turned from prankster into the symbol of resistance within Hogwarts' borders, he was aware that there wasn't a single kid in Hogwarts in this time anymore who didn't know who Remus Lupin had been as a teenager.

 

And maybe it even was a really good thing for those stories to have come out, maybe some of them would find motivation and joint spirit in the rebellious teenage streaks of their polite DADA Professor who was liked by almost everyone.

 

By the time dinner came around and he walked among his house students to the Great Hall, he was in such a blinding good mood that Remus stared at him when he dropped into his chair at the teacher's table. "Was a beautiful day, wasn't it?"

"I was out in the rain for half of it, joining my father in looking at sick Thestrals with Hagrid," Remus grouched and clutched his tea mug tighter, "It still feels like I'm soaked to the bones." Regulus winced but still didn't stop grinning. "Oh, and Dumbledore is back. He said we should drop by after dinner."

 

Regulus chanced a look over to the highcair where the headmaster was talking and laughing with Minerva, the old man had been gone and gone again in the last months. Usually on such short notice that none of them had had any idea, the fact that Hufflepuff's cup had been found and destroyed was still not something Regulus had been able to tell him, it was hardly something dropped in the corridors, let alone written down in a letter.

 

\--

 

Sitting in the headmaster's office at thirty three was still a surreal feeling, even if Regulus had never been up here in his own student time at Hogwarts. He had been called up for a talk after his father's murder but he had politely declined the invitation, he had needed his friends back then, not the headmaster.

 

Now, things weren't that much different where it concerned trusting the old man.

 

Regulus knew he needed Dumbledore to take down Voldemort for good and even in this fight against the Dark Circle the old man could prove useful, and he certainly was glad that Dumbledore had given him this second chance all these years ago. But he also never forgot that the man had done nothing – and was doing nothing again – where it concerned dark magic influencing his students.

 

Regulus didn't trust him, but he also didn't need to trust him in order to work with him.

 

"So, you think he would have hid something on the old Gaunt property?" He repeated the words Dumbledore had started the conversation with, "It's not exactly well protected."

"The house doesn't have to be protected if he concocted something for the ring specifically," Remus weighed on from his side, both of them watching the drawing of the old family ring lying on Dumbledore's desk, "The cave for the locket wasn't hidden or well protected, the inside was. The diary was just out there."

 

Regulus wished he knew where Evan had found the cup.

 

"The matter is more if we believe that this ring would be considered valuable enough for him to pick," Dumbledore pointed out and Regulus found himself thinking once more about the past of a monster he just wished to forget so much.

"Unless we're utterly wrong than he is a descendant of the Gaunt line, a Sacred Twenty Eight family. Even in ruins as they were, Voldemort would still hold himself more connection to that than the Riddles. Morfin Gaunt went to Azkaban for the murder of the Riddles in Little Hangleton, it wouldn't surprise me if it had in truth been Voldemort behind those, in order to create a horcrux in the ring." Regulus shared his thoughts and thought with a shudder back to that graveyard and the manor on the horizon, "The place is creepy, the whole town is, really. Worth a shot to go digging around."

 

"I think so as well," Dumbledore agreed and watched them both with those light blue eyes that always were too guarded, kind but secretive, "I shall find the time to go exploring."

"With all due respect, Headmaster," Regulus interrupted him immediately, he had seen it coming, and there was something in Dumbledore's eye that made him uncomfortable, "I believe it is of importance at the time being to have you be present at this school once more. You will not tell me that your many travels have deluded you from the rise of the Dark Circle. Between Remus, my brother, Marc and myself, we should be able to comb through Little Hangleton and find the ring."

 

Something crossed Dumbledore's face at the clear dismissal of the offered help but it was gone too quick for Regulus to make up his mind over it, and the old man was fast back to smiling anyway.

 

"Okay," Dumbledore leaned back in his chair, voice content, arms loose on the armrests, "so if we add the ring, we're at four." He brought them all back on track, "Four known horcruxes."

"If he made it to four, why stop there?" Remus threw in in a mix of horrified and intrigued, "Two more and he's at seven parts of his soul, quite the magical number, don't you think?" Regulus grimaced when Remus glanced his way, quite the horrifying number, Regulus had been disgusted enough at one, nevermind five broken pieces of one's soul. But seven? "Though of course he could have failed in getting to that point in his plan before he was defeated."

 

"Why do you think the number would have any meaning for him?" Dumbledore wanted to know, head cocked to the side and focused on Remus, it wasn't exactly unknown to Regulus that between the two of them, Dumbledore would always favor the former Gryffindor. As he always favored Gryffindors beyond anyone else, the darn fool, so much for being neutral as a leading authority at this school.

 

"Trust me, he was all about symbolism." Regulus answered before Remus could because of for all his people reading skills and his intellect, Remus had not been a Death Eater or an inner circle member, he had not known Voldemort like Regulus had.

"You're taking this way easier than the last time we talked about this, Regulus." Dumbledore mentioned and Regulus bit back a lot of comments over changed circumstances, if Dumbledore wanted to keep him at armslength's now, two could play that game. Remus looked between them.

 

"I had some recent good developments. Marc and I found Hufflepuff's cup, and Marc destroyed it already." Regulus summarized what he had previously been willing to draw out a little, but not anymore. If Dumbledore acted this shifty, he would not hear about Evan from Regulus, he would protect Evan's memory from the old man. "The diary, the locket, the cup, three destroyed horcruxes. The ring would make four. What follows up next is up for discussion." Dumbledore watched him intently for a moment, but Regulus held his eyes without a problem.

 

"The ring is another thing from Voldemort's own past, like the diary, so we either dive into that path once more. Or the Founders." He proposed when it was Dumbledore who broke the staring contest, personally he was more than ever convinced that the Founders were the way to go. If Voldemort had seen fit to find something in Hufflepuff's legacy, a house that was probably even further alienated from Slytherin than the lions, than there was no telling he wouldn't go for the house closest to the lions.

 

"He'll have never put a piece of himself into an artifact belonging to Gryffindor." Remus mentioned, frowning down at his hands, thinking hard. "And besides, the one great symbol of him is the sword, and that's not only been safely out of his reach but also induced with basilisk venom since last year, so even if he did something, it's long been destroyed." Their eyes all flickered up to the Sorting Hat up on a shelf, seemingly lifeless but Regulus wouldn't be surprised if that creepy thing was listening and watching at all times.

 

"Leaves us with Ravenclaw." Dumbledore pointed out the very obvious and Regulus fought the urge to curl a hand into a fist, it had been such a good day where all his pent up anger and frustration over Stevas, Thomas, the Dark Circle and Lucius bloody Malfoy had taken a backseat. Trust Dumbledore to rile him up again by being his ever passive self.

"And a lost diadem." He brought a swift end to any speculation that could have happened, Dumbledore glanced over to him, Remus looked up and raised an eyebrow. "Oh, please, my best friend was a Ravenclaw who could probably still recite you the stories of every single famous Ravenclaw who ever existed."

 

In his sleep.

 

Or as a preferred torture technique.

 

"Mister Selwyn doesn't by chance know where the diadem is, too, right?" Dumbledore wanted to know, his tone already telling that he knew the answer, Regulus gritted his teeth for a moment. He had definitely stood up with the wrong foot this morning to deal with the headmaster.

"No. And it bothers him more than me, and that's saying something." He explained and then leaned back in his chair, arms crossed over his chest.

 

\--

 

Four grown men standing on a graveyard, with wands clutched in their hands and eyes seeking out their surroundings in tensed silence.

 

Only after some spells were soundlessly cast and revealed nothing did they all breathe a collective sigh of relief and rolled shoulders and necks. Regulus let himself have a full body shudder because even so many freaking years later this place still gave him shivers right down to the bone. Little Hangleton and the Riddle Manor had been a preferred hideout for Voldemort in the years before the war had actually broken out, later on he had switched to more strategic locations like Malfoy or Lestrange Manor.

 

But here on this creepy old graveyard, Regulus had gotten his mark, right along with Evan, Barty and other kids their age. In and out in under an hour, just long enough to be branded and submitted to a grand speech before being shuffled back to Hogwarts. He kept his right hand pressed against his left forearm for a moment as he watched Remus and Sirius take in their surroundings, Marc kept to his side, he had never been here either but he kept a healthy dose of curiosity contrary to the two former Gryffindors.

 

Regulus didn't know really if he should be happy about the apparent silence and abandonment this place radiated now, or if that was more worrisome. Dora had assured him again two days ago that the law enforcement department kept a closer eye on Little Hangleton since the end of the war, magic was monitored here and they would have to think twice over using any 'weighing on the edge' kind of spells if they didn't want to get into trouble.

 

At the same time Sirius had been rather badly inconspicious in reaching out to his Order buddies of which some had now rather influential places in departments of the ministry, assuring them a kind of back up in case things went South or the law got involved. Regulus wasn't really expecting either, Remus, Marc and him could behave themselves and Remus usually had Sirius under control, and the only trouble who would dare show his face here in broad daylight was the Dark Circle.

 

And they had no interest in Little Hangleton. Despising Voldemort as they did, there was no reason to suspect that they were watching this village and the area.

 

"Alright," Sirius clapped his hands after dropping his wand back into the muggle jeans he was wearing with large rips over his knees. He kept insisting it was hip, Liv kept on disagreeing. "How are we doing this then? Split up and conquer graveyard and cottage at the same time?"

"No," Remus was thankfully the one who immediately protested that idea so Regulus didn't have to, "We are not separating. It's bad enough how risky the horcrux hunt has been so far, we got to bring some caution and order into it."

 

He had a very good point, Regulus had to admit to himself, keeping himself from openly wincing just so.

 

He had gone after the locket alone, without anyone knowing. The diary had been stumbled upon. Evan had gone after the cup on his own as well, once more without anyone knowing and Regulus and Marc had gone after his hideout a little head over heels as well.

 

And the way Dumbledore was obsessing over this ring meant they had to be careful in not only finding it but also handling it.

 

"I agree with Remus," Marc joined in as well, he looked the most ill at ease among the four of them, even though he was the one still moving around the circles who had once been neck deep in this mess. "Maybe it'll take longer but at least no one will get the jump on us."

 

They picked the graveyard first, just because they had arrived in it and additionally had no desire to come back here later when the sun was going down, the cottage would already be creepy enough. And if they ended up empty handed there they would have to brave Riddle Manor and Regulus wasn't really looking forward to breaking and entering into still upheld houses.

 

They spread out but always keep within eyesight of another as they basically turned the graveyard upside down without actually destroying anything, Sirius came close to stepping on some precious flowers but ever nature faithful Marc was there immediately to levitate Sirius a few inches to the left. It was frustrating work, worse than the locket for sure, back then he had known where to look and the only struggle had been getting through the riddles, now they were looking for a needle in a gigantic haystack, not even sure if there was a needle to begin with.

 

Sirius' patience died first, to the surprise of absolutely no one.

 

"How did you _ever_ get something done with Potter and him in the group?" Marc wanted to know in an exasperated tone that had Regulus smiling as they went on with their work once Remus had sent Sirius off to scout out the area and throw up some more alarm wards.

"The secret is to keep the time they have to focus on one task limited," Remus revealed his strategy and Regulus laughed at the tactic, it was the same exact one Liv and him used on Jack now when they wanted to teach him something. "And then switch it up to keep their brains on point."

"Pretty sure that is how you raise toddlers," Marc showed that he was on the same wavelength as Regulus again, their wands glowing with the light of detection and location spells. "Though admittedly it was how we dealt with Barty for a while, too." Regulus rolled his eyes despite the truth behind it, Barty had never been the most patient unless a situation truly called for it.

 

They combed through every corner of the graveyard and then gave up on it, instead they called Sirius back and moved on to the abandoned Gaunt shack that was situated not far from Riddle Manor. They had to be more careful here, the groundskeeper for the manor was known to call down the authorities on people who loitered around the shack, muggle kids usually.

 

The forest had nearly reclaimed the shack again for itself, barely any light came through the overgrown canopy of the crooked trees, plants of every kind covered the ground and made it difficult to move anywhere else but the trampled paths that led to the rotting front of the shack. A dried out dead snake was nailed to the front door and Regulus could feel the Slytherin jokes basically rolling up his brother's tongue but Sirius kept quiet because as horrific as the sight was, they could all feel the thrum of magic in the area.

 

Dark magic.

 

"Question now is," Remus began as they cramped themselves on the front steps, "Is this a horcrux or are these the remains of a long line of dark wizards in one of the most radical pureblood families. The Gaunts had much trouble with the law before they got themselves extinct, I don't want to imagine what happened in this... piece of crap." Regulus looked at windows that were threatening to fall apart, ivy that had found its way inside the shack through cracks in the wall, broken stuff littered the outside already, he didn't want to think about how it looked inside.

"Marc," he said when no one looked like they had any idea on how to proceed, the horcruxes resisted summoning charms, and Regulus had no desire to step from curse into curse by entering this house. "Can you ask your brother to come here?"

 

They needed a cursebreaker.

 

\--

 

Marc's brother turned up within the hour and got to work with no questions asked, Sirius helped because he couldn't sit still and also loved the risks too much. Remus, Marc and Regulus drew back a little and sat down on some boulders once Marc had deemed the surrounding plants as non poisonous.

 

"Why didn't you let Dumbledore do this one himself?" Marc wondered while the distant crack of spells could be heard, "I mean he volunteered, and it's not like he doesn't have any experience with dark magic." Regulus looked away from the shack and exchanged a quick look with Remus first before he answered, carefully and hesitant.

"There was something in his eyes when he talked about the ring, I didn't like it. He is... very focused on the horcrux situation, maybe too much, especially the ring." Regulus explained and Remus and Marc were both listening closely, "I looked into the history of the Gaunts but there is nothing that would explain to me why the ring would be so important to Dumbledore."

 

"Destroying the horcruxes is important."

 

"Is it important enough to abandon the school and students for months at a time while outside those walls the Dark Circle is hungry for kids with no perspective?" Regulus asked Remus who bit his lip and looked down at his hands. "Dumbledore is doing with them now what he did with Voldemort's ranks back then. He is ignoring the situation within Hogwarts, believing that everyone will make the right choices, believing that the Dark Circle doesn't have enough influence yet. We all know that is bullshit, and that holds for back then and it holds even more for now. He could have stopped so much if he had only stepped up. And outside of Hogwarts, he lets the Order do his dirty work, or why do you think he gave Sirius the nudge to unite you guys again and find even more members?"

 

"No, you're right." Remus said and blew out a long breath, "Dumbledore is holding himself back again from doing anything, and I don't understand it either. He is completely ignoring the situation with the Dark Circle, maybe even underestimating how much power Rosier and Fawley really hold already." A squeak sounded from the direction of the shack but when no screams followed Remus went on again. "Hunting for the horcruxes is important like I said, but I agree with you, Reg, Dumbledore is falling into an obsession almost. It's like he knows something that we can't see."

 

"Which is why it's even more important that we find the ring, destroy the horcrux in it and maybe even destroy the whole thing alltogether," Regulus concluded for himself and also in general, "I need Dumbledore's focus to return to the school, the Voldemort sympathisants and the Dark Circle. They are the threat we are facing right now, and they won't be stopped by destroying horcruxes."

"The situation isn't made any easier by not having a Minister," Marc threw in his own views, frowning down at the family ring he kept on his right hand, his father was one of the names being thrown around, "They are discussing a lot, campaigning even more and each time they come close to a vote within the cabinet, the Dark Circle or the Death Eater ranks are pulling another stunt and they've lost their window again for the next few weeks."

 

"Which gives Stevan and Thomas more room again to cause doubt in the candidates being presented." Regulus pointed out and looked up when Sirius made his way over to them alone.

"Your father hasn't been discredited yet, Marc." Remus pondered and Marc nodded, he didn't even look happy about it, and Regulus knew that his friend would have preferred if his father would have taken a step back out of the whole game but old man Selwyn wanted to make a difference, he wanted to corporate what Regulus had written into the core of his articles.

 

"My father doesn't have skeletons in his closet, we staid out of the first war and he is keeping his head and hands clean now. The only thing Stevan and Thomas could put against him is not doing anything the first time around but they're already using that argument against enough people, it won't be heard anymore." Marc laid the situation bare for them. "His name has grown in weight even since Silvan threw himself behind my Dad."

"Silvan knows he has absolutely no chance himself, he himself has always had clean hands but his family name is dripping red," Regulus reminded them all and then stopped when Sirius reach them, "Have you brought the place down yet?"

 

But his joke fell flat when he truly caught sight of his brother's eyes.

 

"We found it."

 

"And?"

 

"There is something on it you won't like."

 

\--

 

With Marc and Remus taking over the actual horcrux destruction along with help from Marc's brother, Regulus and Sirius apparated back to Grimmaudplace to return to the other important weekend task that Regulus had set himself.

 

"We're back," he called out as he closed the front door and then grinned when Jack came running out of the living room, dodging Sirius' grabby hands to throw himself at Regulus' leg. "Hey, champion, are the women driving you crazy already?"

"Papa, play?" Jack wanted to know with big round eyes and Regulus laughed, someone was clearly bored out of their mind. He picked his boy up and then followed his brother into the living room where Liv and Adrienna were bend over a book on the couch.

 

"Hey," Liv looked up when Regulus sank into his armchair and Sirius dropped down onto the smaller couch, "did everything go well?"

"Turned the whole village upside down or at least it feels like that," Regulus explained and set Jack down to get whatever toy he wanted, "but we got it. Marc and Remus are taking care of it." Sirius was far off in his thoughts, Regulus could see as much when he glanced over, and he wondered just what the symbol had to mean that Remus had frowned upon so much once a paling Sirius had shown them the ring beneath the rotting floorboards.

 

Regulus himself had no idea how the Peverells were or how this symbol might explain Dumbledore's obsession with the ring, he would have to read up on it when he had the time but for now there were more pressing matters to attend to.

 

"Have you looked at the house Marc proposed?" He wanted to know from Adrienna who set the book of spells to the side to focus on him.

"I did, and I think with some work it could be a good safehouse," she told him and she looked already more at ease than she had been in the weeks that had passed since she had ruined her standing within their community by showing her true colors and saving Regulus. "It has the space Narcissa and I will need, for the girls, and Draco once we can get him away from the Malfoys, and it already has the groundwork for safety guards. And so far the only people who know where the house is are Marc and his brother, and I trust them."

 

"The important part will be that the ministry doesn't find out where the house is because then we can assure that no one unwelcome will find out either," Regulus made his point and then smiled when Jack returned with the activity book that he had gotten for Easter from his grandparents. He pulled the boy back onto his lap and let him open the book to what page he wanted while Regulus still talked. "If we include Marc, we can get nearly everything set up without involving any officials. You shouldn't have an open connection in the floo network anyway, the one already established to Marc's place is enough for now."

 

"It's not supposed to be a permanent solution anyway," Sirius spoke up agian as well, too, he still seemed distracted but he knew the topic was important. Regulus was also quite sure that Sirius just wanted Narcissa out of his old apartment in the city to make room for an Order meeting point. Regulus was sure as hell not going to turn Grimmaudplace into a bloody headquarters situation, over his dead body was that going to happen. "Once the Dark Circle is dealt with and Voldemort's sympathisants are put behind bars, your lives can go back to normal and open. And the kids will remain safe in Hogwarts anyway."

 

"You're quite positive there, Sirius."

 

"Call it experience but I think we survived the worst when we were all but kids still, it can't get more suffocating. We got out of that war, we'll keep our heads on our necks in this trouble, too."

 

\--

 

Evan had never had any favourite flowers, he had despaired over all of them in equal measure, so they each picked some of their own favourites as they came down for the anniversary of Evan's death. Thirteen years it had been now, the first one that had come around since they knew the truth about Evan's heart and mind, about his true loyalty.

 

The loyalty that had until the end always belonged to Regulus, not any Dark Lord.

 

"I miss him," Adrienna said quietly when she had set her flowers down on Evan's gravestone, taking two steps back again to slip under the arm Regulus wrapped around her. "We had our problems, and a small part of me will never forgive him for killing Benjy, but he always wanted to protect us." She sighed and Regulus squeezed her arm, he himself standing leaned against Marc's side as they looked down upon the simple black gravestone. "Has Silvan said a word about relocating him into the family tomb yet?"

 

"Silvan wants to," Regulus explained and Adrienna slipped her hand into his, he had asked Liv to come as well but she had stated that this was something the three of them should have for themselves and that she was there for him at home. "He understands that I can't talk to him about what Evan found that made him change his views so violently. He wants Evan to be moved into the tomb but if he does it, questions will be asked and he can't just show the letter as proof."

 

"It would bring too much attention to the riddles in it," Marc added in when Regulus' voice gave up a little on him, they had read Adrienna in on the horcrux situation once they had settled her into Regulus' cottage in Brighton for the time being until the summerhouse Marc had handed her was fully warded and tested to the brink. "When the horcruxes are destroyed, Evan can be brought home to rest among his family."

 

"Has Crouch Senior approached you, too, yet about supporting his agenda of giving Barty a gravestone?" Regulus wanted to know to not let silence fall, he didn't want to grieve today, Marc snorted, bringing up an arm to wrap it around Regulus' shoulders.

"Yeah, he did, and I told him the same thing you told him." Marc answered and kept talking because of course he sensed that Regulus couldn't deal with silence right now. "Giving Barty a gravestone only gives the remaining sympathisants a place to converge on. And that would only become a mouse trap for the Dark Circle, like a cage to pick from. Now, I would never shed a tear over a Death Eater's death or those of people who still hang onto those radical beliefs, but I am getting already sick again of the violence. I want it to be over."

 

"We all do," Adrienna joined in and leaned her face against Regulus' shoulder, "I want a world for my daughters where I don't have to worry about them leaving the house, where I won't have to worry about Julienna's decisions for her love life. Where I won't have to do a background check on Laureen's future boyfriends. I want them to grow up safe, and happy."

"Crouch wouldn't have been in this situation if at any point in Barty's childhood he stepped up as a father," Regulus grouched before he looked up at the sunny sky, "Let's go back to my place before I turn maudlin."

 

Marc tugged him away to get to the apparation point, neither of them saw how Adrienna watched them with a shine of decision in her eyes.

 

\--

 

"The Order of the Phoenix," Regulus said as he greeted Sirius stumbling out of the fireplace in the sitting room of his quarters at Hogwarts. His brother straightened up and brushed off dust and powder, "Now there is something I had hoped to not be revisiting in open discussion." Sirius scoffed at him and took a seat in the second armchair, Regulus finished grading the essay he was currently sitting at and only then looked up to face his brother. "Why do you want to talk with me about your merry group of vigilantes? So far we've both been content in me ignoring that you are reassembling an illegal group of crime fighters."

 

"I'm here to ask you to join."

 

Regulus laughed, it just bubbled up from his chest, all with head thrown back and eyes closed, and then he struggled in closing the ink glass and setting the quill safely to the side without spilling anything and making a mess. All without stopping to laugh.

 

"I mean it," Sirius emphasized and Regulus finally caught himself again, lips still quivering in surpressed pearls of laughter while his brother looked at him, serious and truly meaning his words. "You'd be a great addition and a great help and you can hardly say that we don't want the same things." Sirius tried to reason but Regulus gave a sharp laugh.

"I want things to change in legal ways, brother," he aruged vehemently, "I still stand on the side of law, even if I don't trust in our ministry doesn't mean that I don't trust the law. We have a perfectly suited group of crime fighters out there, they're called Aurors and Hitwizards, we just need to sort out the rotten seeds."

 

"You know as well as I do that the officials are often bound to regulations that make them turn up too late," Sirius held against it and Regulus couldn't believe this was happening, he had been so happy to not be involved in Sirius' Dumbledore-approved rebirth of the Order of Idiots. "Reg, come on, you're a vigilante, too, you just fight with words instead of curses."

"I am not a vigilante." Regulus deadpanned with his eyes narrowing, in his ears that word still sounded like an insult. "And are you seriously sitting there and asking me to join your merry group that includes Evan's murderer? Do you actually believe there is a scenario where Moody and I will be able to work together?"

 

"Don't you think the Dark Circle and Death Eaters are a little more important than keeping up your grudge with Moody?" Sirius countered and Regulus pushed himself to his feet, pacing over to the liquor cabinet. "I get it, okay, it can't be easy."

"You don't get it," Regulus snapped at him and curled his hands around the edge of the cabinet, he didn't want to talk about this, he didn't ever want to talk about this. "You really don't get it."

 

"My best friend was murdered, too."

 

"That murderer didn't go out the big hero out of that confrontation!" Regulus snarled and whirled around, "Moody looks at me like I'm gonna snap at any second, like there just needs to be an incentive and I will swing right back to being a Death Eater. He was one of the few who argued against my pardon, and you know that!" He dragged a hand through his hair and then opened the Whiskey bottle to pour himself a finger or two.

"Moody will have seen by now that you are not just some wolf hiding in a sheep's clothing, and if not I will have a word with him," Sirius offered him up and Regulus rolled his eyes before downing the shot glass' contents. "You could really help, Reg. And you wouldn't have to do this alone, I want to ask Marc and Adrienna, too."

 

"Good luck with that, they already think you're a reckless lunatic, and Marc likes to stay neutral where it concerns open loyalties." Regulus pointed out and slammed the glass back onto the cabinet top. "He is not a fighter, and I'm not a fighter either. We prefer to use our skills in different ways. And Adrienna is not going to throw herself in with the Order, she and the girls are already in enough danger as it is." He didn't mention that Adrienna within the order would probably be safer off still because those of Benjy Fenwick's friends who still remained would protect his daughter's family.

 

"We have non fighters in the Order, someone needs to do the boring work," Sirious mentioned with a sigh and Regulus sent him an angry glare, "Just, look, think about it. We need the Order against the Dark Circle."

"And I tell you again what I told you weeks ago, pinning a group of vigilantes against them will only give Stevan and Thomas more fodder for their rallies," Regulus held easily against it, because as much as the Order could give numbers and fighters, they were all vigilantes and people not working in the ways of the law.

 

"Reg, they're gaining supporters in the dozen every day. We need to move now." Sirius met his eyes with that stubborn determination that ran in their blood so deep and he stared right back at him. He knew his brother was right in a way, Stevan was amassing supporters in an alarming rate, because he could talk everyone almost into believing anything. Even when that anything was a radical move against radicals. "If you throw your support behind the Order, that's a sign, Regulus."

"Yes," Regulus agreed with a scoff and moved back to his armchair, "A sign that I lost my fucking mind after all. I'll stick with no."

 

Sirius' jaw worked for a long moment but then he accepted it, even he knew when an argument was lost.

 

"They put a prize out on Lucius' head, have you seen that already?" Sirius changed the topic slightly instead and Regulus breathed out a heavy sigh as he sat down again, tiredly leaning his head against the back of the armchair. "Quite a number even, makes me wonder where they get their money from. They're both cut off from their families' fortunes, unless old Fawley is playing us all."

"He isn't," Regulus disagreed quick, he had talked often enough with Teresa's father in recent months, the man was terrified for the safety of his remaining three children, especially Eustace who wasn't hidden in the safety of Hogwarts. "He disinherited Thomas, publicly at that, too. I don't know where the money comes from, maybe worth digging into for your new buddies. And you will certainly not find me crying after Lucius."

 

"I have a theory where the money is coming from," Sirius let his voice drop into the 'listen to me now' range and Regulus cocked an eyebrow, "You're not gonna like it." Well, what was new, he made a gesture for his brother to go on. "Abraxas."

"No," Regulus was once more quick to shake his head, "Abraxas wants to safe his family name, he wouldn't throw himself behind the Dark Circle when he just managed to get himself cleared of Death Eater involvment."

 

"The Dark Circle can achieve what has been ruined for him. Get rid of Lucius and put Abraxas' heir onto a golden path so that soon enough people will only see that and have forgotten about Lucius' crimes." Sirius drew the picture that made Regulus' blood turn ice cold, responsbility over Draco laid with Abraxas and not with Narcissa, as much as they were trying to fight it, the marriage contracts were just too tight. "If Abraxas is backing them, our problem just got a whole lot more severe."

 

"I'll talk to Silvan."

 

"You think he might join the Order?"

 

"Dream on, brother."

 

\--

 

"This is really nice," Liv commented when they turned off the main street in Hogsmeade and made for the forest path. They had had dinner in the Three Broomsticks, all alone, just the two of them, all in the time in the world for them tonight because Sirius was watching Jack. It was the last week of school before summer break and though the students were busy with studying, Regulus had no more work left until he needed to correct exams.

 

So tonight, nothing else mattered but spending some hours with the woman he loved.

 

The rest of the world could wait until tomorrow, and that included more than ever the Dark Circle.

 

Nothing would ruin this evening, especially not former students.

 

He pulled Liv gently off the cobbled path when they reached the forest and softly pushed her up against a tree trunk, swallowing her amused chuckle up in a kiss. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed right back, giggling when they pulled apart to catch their breaths. "Making out against a tree in the dark, how teenage of us," Liv laughed and Regulus snorted, summer had come to stay and he loved how Liv's dress felt beneath his fingers. They leaned in for another kiss and he growled when she bit his bottom lip.

"Just so we're on the same record," Regulus whispered against her lips a good moment later, "I'm not having sex in the wild." Liv broke out into the most beautiful pearls of laughter and dropped her face against his chest. "Especially not here," he added with a grimace, "My students walk these paths on their Hogsmeade weekends. I would never be able to look at them here anymore."

 

Liv laughed even louder and then pushed him back onto the trail, slipping his arm around her shoulders.

 

"kay, so what's the surprise then that you kept on hinting at all evening? The anticipation is killing me," Liv emphasized and Regulus grinned, he knew how twitchy she could get when she was expecting surprises, it was half the fun in it.

"You'll see soon." He told her and smirked when she elbowed him in the side, "It'll be worth it." He promised her and squeezed her arm.

 

It would. It totally would.

 

"It better," Liv playfully warned him and he glanced over to see the glint in her eyes, "Or there won't be sex for you in the inside today either."

 

"It will be _worth_ it."

 

They had to walk for another few minutes, up the hill on the forest and he was giddy with excitement by the time he stopped here in the clearing.

 

"Close your eyes," he told her and waited until she did to walk behind her, he pulled his wand from the inside of his right sleeve, "Keep your eyes closed until I tell you to look." She hummed in understanding and then twitched only slightly when his wand tapped against her bare shoulder, he whispered the incantation and then put away his wand again, pressing up close behind Liv. "Okay, open your eyes."

 

Liv's loud gasp was all he needed to know that this surprise had been worth the 'I hate surprises' debates of the last week.

 

"Oh my god," Liv called out and then she was moving forward, making a few more steps closer to the edge of the hill he had brought her to, "Oh my god, Reggie, it's so beautiful." She said and then clapped a hand over her mouth to cover her open gaping. He chuckled and then followed her to the edge, wrapping an arm around her middle to pull her closer. Liv's eyes were glowing with amazement and wonder, and Regulus wondered if that was how every first year looked like when they saw the castle for the first time, he himself had surely been frozen in awe.

 

Across the valley from them Hogwarts laid illuminated as always in this late evening so shortly before final exams. From the basement to the highest chambers in Ravenclaw tower, every floor seemed to be alive with light somehow, even the Great Hall was bright and glittering in color.

 

"This is so incredible, I don't have words."

 

Out on the grounds, Hagrid's Hut showed a fire burning from one window, a latern was moving as a dark figure walked across one of the paths leading down to the greenhouses, maybe Pomona needed to check on something still.

 

"But how?" Liv wanted to know and turned to look at him, eyes glowing, lips smiling so happily, "How is this possible, I thought there were spells to keep muggles from seeing it?"

"There are also spells that can temporarily give you a ticket for a look behind the wards," Regulus answered her and tapped his right hand where even Liv knew he kept his wand at almost all times now. "You're enchanted right now, it's gonna wear off over night."

 

"Thank you," she told him and leaned up to kiss him briefly before she leaned into his side and watched the castle again, "this is the best surprise ever, it really is magical. I haven't seen something more beautiful in a long time."

 

"I did," he whispered and kissed the top of her head, Liv chuckled and interwined their fingers, "I love you, Liv."

 

"I love you, too."

 

\--

 

At his second open battle against the forces of darkness, Regulus was already fed up with everything again, frustrated, annoyed and just done with people's stupidity. That had been a problem back in the day, too, what many might have seen as fear had just been Regulus' reluctance to associate himself with people's idiocy.

 

Sirius and him had been trying to figure out the blood magic wards on Grimmaudplace that needed a redo because too many dark wizards and witches were too closely related to them now. And where Regulus could defend himself, Liv could not and Jack even less so some upgrades were more than necessary, adding to the other layers of protection the house came with after so much history and the guards Regulus himself had thrown up to protect his little family.

 

They had been scrolling through their father's books, one brother more enthusiastic about it than the other, when Emmeline Vance had sent Sirius a Patronus to alert them of a Death Eater attack. Not in London, this time they had chosen Edinburgh. What a nice welcome change of scenery and how freaking much too close to Hogwarts to not feel wildly uncomfortable.

 

Why Vance had been there in the first place was beyond Regulus' knowledge, as far as he knew she lived right around the corner from Sirius in that freaking white picket fence village. Things got seemingly more interesting and curious even when upon apparating onto the roof from where the distress call had come, Regulus found Vance holding up a bloodied Marc.

 

"What in..."

 

"Don't," Marc cut off his beginning question with a sharp hiss, clearly in pain and in no mood for Regulus' interrogation. He hurried towards his best friend anyway, took his weight over from Vance who shook out her arms. "It looks worse than it is."

"Yeah, that's why you can barely hold yourself on your feet." Regulus deadpanned at him and let his eyes flicker and his hands move over bleeding cuts. "What happened?"

 

"Wrong place, wrong time. They overran us while we were..." Vance started and then stopped again just as quickly, Sirius stopped his observing of their surroundings to raise an eyebrow at her, "were having coffee..." Vance finished quickly and it was Regulus' turn to raise an eyebrow, him directing it at Marc. A coffee date? He had taken the little spitfire on a date? Marc was _dating_? His best friend sent him a look that was as clear as the slowly darkening sky above them, they could handle this later once the menacing threat of idiots in masks was dealt with.

 

Several more pops sounded, it appeared Vance had alerted more than just the Black brothers, Remus, Dora and three wizards and two witches that Regulus didn't recognize appeared in short order, his brother greeted them all with a familiarity showing nod. Order members then, fabulous. If Moody turned up, too, Regulus was going home.

 

"Hestia, can you heal Marc before we start doing anything?" Sirius broke the silence after Vance's awkward confessing and a young dark haired witch stepped forward, pulling up the small bag she carried on the belt at her hip. "She's a healer, stand down, Reg." Sirius explained when Regulus must have looked like building himself up in front of the best friend he was still keeping upright. Hestia threw only a brief look up into his face before she was drawing her wand over Marc's body to assess the situation.

 

Meanwhile, Sirius shared a look with Remus that Regulus sadly enough knew too well by now, below them the fighting was still going on.

 

"Priority is to get the muggles to safety," Sirius pointed out and then threw another assessing look over the situation below them, "Team up in twos, keep your spells clean, we don't have the standing among the aurors yet again that we once had." Some of the unknown witches and wizards threw a look to Regulus and Marc that he answered with a glare, as if the Order was still a secret to anyone. "Go now." Pops sounded again as people disappeared, Regulus focused back on Hestia finishing up with Marc.

 

"Should be good for now," she declared and then stepped back again, Regulus met Marc's eyes and saw the answer to the question he wanted to ask already there.  
"Go, stay with Liv. She'll worry less," he told him and Marc nodded gratefully before disappearing after exchanging another long look with Vance. Vance herself popped away with Hestia before Regulus could make up his mind over speaking even a word to her.

 

Marc was dating.

 

"Don't do something stupid," Sirius brought his focus back to the situation at hand and Regulus shoved him towards Remus before Dora and him turned together and reappeared on the edge of the square, wands drawn, protection spells conjured up to get to the young couple cowering beneath a table. Back into the fire then.

 

\--

 

As the chaos grew and the square turned into a complete and utter mess with the explosion of the pharmacy, Regulus lost utter sight of everything for a short moment and when he struggled himself to his feet again under Sirius' frantically tugging hand, he nearly didn't see it at first.

 

Almost.

 

It was instinct that let his eyes focus on the figures appearing in the thick dark smoke on top of the explosion's rubble, black cloaks billowing in the wind, no wands raised, just watching. Once Regulus was standing again, Sirius threw himself back into the fray but Regulus was frozen on the spot, staring up at the two young men watching the chaos with blank faces. He hadn't seen them this close since their graduation and he couldn't help but take in everything, how much they had grown still, how they had at the same time filled out into their tall bodies, there was nothing lanky or clumsy looking about them anymore.

 

Stevan looked more like his father's twin than ever, right down to the dangerous spark in his eyes as he let them flicker over the fighting. Thomas looked more regal than before still, half a step behind Stevan, giving him the spotlight as always.

 

Only... they weren't in the spotlight, they were just observing and the ones fighting against a ragtag team of vigilantes – Merlin's Beard, Regulus was a bloody vigilante now – they were still of the old evil blood, those weren't Dark Circle members.

 

What was going on here?

 

\--

 

Regulus got his answer in a spectacular fashion when a scream had him spin around and he found a familiar face twisted in pain, lifted up by yellow spells that had clearly come from Remus and Sirius who were standing on either side of Oliver Avery, Dominic's little brother who was the head of the family now where Dominic was rotting in Askaban. Remus and Sirius were clearly silently communicating what to do now where they got him and Regulus by chance caught a look up towards Stevan and Thomas again who were still only watching.

 

Until Stevan met his eyes over the distance and smiled.

 

And then he raised a hand and snapped.

 

In what had to be a total nightmare, Regulus heard it pop all around the square and in seemingly every dark corner a figure in a black cloak and high quality clothing appeared like frozen sentinel.

 

And nothing... nothing was worse in it than seeing Draco being dragged out of an alleyway by a young man who had once hung onto Stevan's and Thomas' cloaks. To his right, Sirius cursed and yelled for Remus to take care of Avery but Regulus didn't care if his brother came running for him next, he had gotten a new goal, the only thing that counted now.

 

He would not lose another boy.

 

He was moving before he was even realizing it, brushing past duels, deaf to the calls of his name from his brother's lips.

 

He would not lose Draco, too.

 

He was in the process of raising his wand to get rid of the former student who still kept a tight hand on Draco's cloak, Draco's wide eyes had since caught onto Regulus, in the last second though, just before his mind formed the stunner, a figure apparated right between them.

 

"Regulus."

 

Once upon a time there had been a blond bright eyed toddler who had called two teenagers Evie and Rego, a little known fact that his friends had never let Evan forget. Here and now the same boy stood right in front of Regulus, nearly two decades older and so changed that it was hard to believe that he had ever looked upon the world with innocence.

 

Stevan Rosier radiated coldness like others did warmth and comfort, his face perfectly blank like his parents couldn't have taught him any better and his pale eyes burning with an icy harshness that Regulus had never even seen in his own mother.

 

"Stevan, you don't want to do this." Regulus tried to reason because he didn't want to hurt anyone here, maybe Stevan had made his decisions but it still didn't mean he deserved to suffer.

"I do, that is what you never understood," Stevan gave his voice room to speak and that was the danger with him, no hothead, not quick to lash out, no temper on him. Stevan became a danger when he was allowed to talk.

 

Over Stevan's right shoulder Regulus could see his brother slowly approaching the situation from another angle, wand at the ready.

 

"You've always talked big about choices, and how you never had any room to make your own," Stevan was calm and his voice was even and it sent chills down Regulus' back, this wasn't the passionate raving of a lunatic. Every word here was chosen, every word here was calculated and thought over.

 

Up on the rubble, Thomas didn't pay them any attention.

 

"You gave us speeches about free will and making free choices but the second one of us goes down a path you don't like, all of that goes forgotten." Stevan's accusation caused something in Regulus' to boil up and he knew that was exactly what Stevan wanted, cause Regulus to be the one who lost his cool first, let Regulus be the one who went on the offensive. Calculation and cunning wit, the kid was too good for his own good. "We're making the world better, Regulus. A world where people can make those fancy choices you always preach about. We are cleansing this world of the scum, you should be happy, you should be thanking me, I am doing your job for you because you're hiding yourself behind newspaper articles. You really wanna make a difference? Stand with us, Regulus, stand with us and rid the world of the disgusting trash."

 

He said the words with the same exact face and in the same exact tone that Silas Rosier had in the past used to talk about muggles, bloodtraitors and muggleborn, only Stevan now meant people like his father. Death Eaters, old blood, sympathisants, radicals.

 

"Your way won't get us there, Stevan." Regulus said and made a gesture for Sirius to stop approaching, the last thing he needed now was to have a mishappen spell hit Draco who was visibly shaking now. "I applaud your endeavors of ridding us of the evil of old but what you are creating here is just one of the same. It's not new, it's not better, it's just different. It's just a new evil."

"We're nothing like them!" Stevan snapped and something flashed in his eyes for a moment that puzzled Regulus but it was gone too quick again. "We create order, not chaos. I don't let those scum into my circle. We're gonna make a difference, you just can't see it because you're so set on justice and the law."

"Yes," Regulus was quick to intervene, his wand completely lowered now, "I believe in justice and law. And if you really want to make a difference than help me uncover the corruptness in the Ministry and sort out the bad seeds there. Killing sprees and upriling the public is not a way of good, Stevan."

 

"The only men we've killed were branded with the mark, and believed in the righteousness of it." Stevan made his point and Regulus was not ready to hold up this debate when there was frigging fighting all around them still, not when Draco was trembling in the hold of someone who meant him no good. "We killed Death Eaters, Regulus, not innocents. I am finishing what Evan started, why can't you see that?"

 

"You're not, Stevan, you're not. Evan wouldn't have wanted this, and you know that better than the people who still think he died in loyalty to Voldemort." Regulus' blood was curdling now, Stevan shouldn't have brought Evan into this. "Evan would be ashamed over the murders you've caused. Over the pain you've caused innocents by just riling up the wrong people. Maybe you mean well somewhere in that stubborn head of yours, Stevan but this isn't the right way!"

"And you know the right way of course. Regulus Black, the Saint and Savior," Stevan called out loudly enough that a few people around them even bloody stopped fighting each other, "Halt and Listen to what he has to say because only he can tell you right from wrong."

 

"That has never been what I said nor what I meant." Regulus clarified and he swallowed against the words he wanted to say in his anger, words he knew would only be used against him right now. "You made a choice, Stevan, and all of this here, all of what is going to come, it's gonna be on you. It's gonna be on your shoulders and your conscience because you chose this but Draco didn't. Look at him!" Regulus went a little sharper in his tone, "Look at him and tell me he is here of his own free will!"

 

Stevan did actually turn to look, spending a good amount of too much time observing Draco being so close to falling apart, and then with a half distracted hand gesture of Stevan's, his henchman number five dropped his hold on Draco and took some steps back. Draco began rubbing his arms, eyes flickering between Stevan and Regulus, especially when Stevan took three steps back as well, effectively placing Draco right in the middle of them.

 

"There you go, now he is free to make his own choices." Stevan gave him with a sudden smile and not a blink later he had his wand raised and pointed at Regulus, Sirius mirrored him immediately, only he targeted Stevan.

"Draco," Regulus wasted no more time in drawing Draco's attention solely on himself, "Just look at me, everything else doesn't matter right now, just look at me. I know this is terrifying but I need you to listen to me for a moment. Can you do that?" Draco nodded so Regulus did his best to blind himself to everything else around him but Draco, Sirius would have his back.

 

"I shouldn't even be alive." Regulus started and from behind Draco, his brother gave him 'are you serious, right now' look that he fully ignored in order to take a step closer to the blond teenager still, prompting Stevan to raise his wand higher. "I shouldn't even be alive. For all intents and purposes I should have died that night in the cave but I didn't, and I can't help but think it was for a reason. I know what I have to do, and I know it is the right thing to. I will not betray you, I will not kill you, I will not save you either, I will not give you what you think you deserve. My choice is easier: I will not give up on our family. The rest is entirely up to you."

 

He lowered his wand entirely and stretched out his left hand, palm up.

 

"Remember what I told you. The choice is yours, Draco."

 

Draco's eyes flickered around in half a panic, fear in those pale eyes so visible and loud that Regulus' heart was screaming at him to jump and get the kid out of this but he stood his ground. This was the biggest choice the boy had to make in his life so far, and he had to do it on his own, no matter how difficult it was, no matter how scary and downright terrifying.

 

Draco looked to Stevan and that ice cold pokerface, that wand raised in their direction, promising nothing good. He looked over to Sirius still keeping their backs safe and free of straying curses. He looked to Thomas still standing high up on that rubble, eyes on seemingly everyone but them. He looked to Regulus who kept his eyes on only Draco.

 

There was somehow silence, or at least it felt like it, between the three of them – Regulus, Draco and Stevan – locked in this clash of beliefs and agendas. Locked in this standoff with two boys he wanted to save so desperately but only one was still in his reach. He didn't know how much time had passed when a breath shuddered itself through Draco's chest, his shoulders tightened, his back straightened, he had made his decision.

 

Regulus' heart set out for the very very seemingly endless seconds it took for Draco to take his hand.

 

He disapparated them in the very next breath.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One more chapter and then the epilogue.


	12. Act IV - As Past's Reach - Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I marked something with a line of xxx's that could be considered "Graphic Violence" but I don't want to put a warning on the whole story because of three sentences.
> 
> If you get triggered by something along those lines or just don't want to read this, then just skip from one line of xxx's to the next.

**Chapter 2 – The Order of the Phoenix**

 

It happened during class, which was about the worst place it could have happened even when he had very much prayed that it would never ever happen again. On top of everything, it was the last days of classes as well.

 

One moment he was correcting Cedric Diggory's hold on the knife to cut the beans for the healing potion, and then in the next, just one blink of the eyes later, Regulus was on his knees on the ground, hunched over and gasping through the pain threatening to slice him in half. His surroundings blurred away and he could only distantly hear the pandemonium break out, voices calling out, some screams and then two voices yelling to back off of him.

 

Regulus desperately tried to get his bearings, to catch his breath and figure out what was going on but he was helpless, lost to the pain that burned through his veins like fire. Hands pushed him to lay down on the ground, someone pushed something under his head and then he screamed when someone tried to push his left arm away from where he kept it pressed against his chest.

 

And that thought had him lurge back to awareness so sudden that he could feel bile rising up his throat.

 

No.

 

"Don't touch his arm!" Sarena hissed somewhere to his right and he could blurrily see her hand pulling the ones away that had only tried to help, Regulus knew it, and he wasn't surprised to see yellow edges on the robes of the person on his left. "Terry, get them out of the classroom. Tess, go and find help."

 

"Already on..."

 

"Wait a second." Sarena called out and Regulus found her face appearing in his vision next, ignored how the second Slytherin Prefect in the room shushed his students out, "Professor, can you hear me?" Sarena wanted to know from him and Regulus swallowed against throwing up, shifted in the process of nodding and then screamed out as the flames shot through his body once more. Sarena's face told him everything about her panicked realization over what was going on when his right hand pressed down on his left arm.

 

No, this couldn't be happening. This just couldn't be happening.

 

No.

 

"Get Lupin!" Sarena decided and Regulus could have sighed in relief if there was any air in his lungs, footsteps showed Theresa taking off. "Is there anything we can do, Professor?"

"Ice," he croaked out and a wand appeared above him, prompting Regulus to glance up to finally identify the person kneeling on his left, his eyes met Cedric Diggory's frightened but calm expression.

 

Diggory murmured the incantation and as the cold numbed his entire left arm, Regulus could breathe again.

 

So sudden in fact that he immediately passed out.

 

\--

 

When Regulus blinked himself back to consciousness, he found himself on the couch in his private quarters, left arm wrapped in a towel that was clearly spelled to keep icy. It dulled the fire spreading out from his flesh but it didn't numb the throbbing pain that kept him mostly paralyzed still. When the room really came into focus, he found Serena cowering on the armchair in the corner, Remus frantically preparing something at the cupboard where Regulus kept his private potion ingredients and Kreacher gnawing on his fingers right at the side of the coach.

 

Regulus opened his lips to speak but he could only croak, screaming had left his throat raw, the sound was nevertheless enough to have Serena snap her head up and Remus whirl around with a cup of something in his hands. Remus set the cup down in the next moment and rushed over with a broken off, "Reg." He went down on one knee and checked Regulus over with quick fingers that still felt like burning embers on Regulus' skin, Kreacher hid himself against Remus' back to get away from Regulus' suffering that he couldn't meant.

 

For it originated in dark magic that was too beyond a house-elf's ability to counteract.

 

Regulus croaked again and Kreacher snapped up a glass of water, Remus helped him drink it for Regulus' right hand was shaking badly. The water went down easy enough and even though his stomach rolled with it, his throat at least stopped feeling like sandpaper. Panic was clawing at his mind, fear and terror causing a headache to rise.

 

"I need to see," Regulus gasped out and Remus gave a grimace, Kreacher pressing nervously against him in his own terror, Serena whimpered in the back.

"Reg..." Remus said quietly, half a warning, half a try at comfort but Regulus slowly shook his head, he needed the visual, he needed the absolute proof that this wasn't a nightmare, that this was actually real because he just needed to know.

"No, I need...I need to _see_." He insisted and Remus really didn't want to let it happen, Regulus could see it in his eyes, but he also understood so he helped Regulus sit up a little, stopping only when Regulus groaned over a wildly spinning perception of the room.

 

Slowly, Remus began to tone down the spells keeping the iced towel attached to Regulus' arm, it gave Regulus the chance to look over to Serena again, she met his eyes with pure horror in her green ones, absolute bone deep fear having her shaking.

 

"It's gonna be okay," he told her, weak and pathetic and barely able to put any conviction into his voice, especially when he had to grimace and bite back a fucking whimper as Remus rolled off the towel. Regulus took a deep breath and then looked down, in just about the same moment as the door to his quarters burst open and Remus sprung up with his wand drawn. Draco and Julienna froze on the spot, the door falling shut behind them with a sound that echoed so hard in Regulus' head that he nearly retched.

 

As if the sight on his left forearm hadn't achieved that sensation yet.

 

"Have you lost your minds?" Remus snapped out angrily as he lowered his wand again and roughly pointed over to Serena, both teenagers followed that order with guilty faces. "Both of you know better than just storming into private rooms, especially under such circumstances!" Draco and Julienna both apologized but Regulus barely heard them, too focused on black.

 

Stark black on pale white skin.

 

No more faded past, no more faded memories, no more fears of nightmares.

 

The Dark Mark was alive again.

 

"What will happen now?" Draco's voice broke through the silence that lasted an uncomfortably long time, the kid had been quiet in the days since he had taken Regulus' hand. Since then he had lost basically all his peers in his own year, too many of those had been people who had befriended him because of his last name and Regulus was actually partly glad the kid was finally rid of those arse licking bastards. He was glued to Serena and the other girls now, he needed time to recover, time to not be scared anymore.

 

Once summer hit, all three of the teenagers who were currently staring at him with wide anxious eyes would start a life in hiding and trippled protection. Draco, Julienna and little Laureen would join their mothers in the safehouse that had been warded top to bottom now. And until a minister had been appointed and Silvan had had the time to turn out his daughter-in-law, Serena would stay with Regulus and Liv.

 

At least that had been the plan until now.

 

Shifting a little for more comfort shot a blinding spike pain up Regulus' arm and he froze again, "There is no need to freak out now, there will be an explanation. No one has to fear the worst."

"But is he back?" Julienna wanted to know, she was squished up next to Serena in the armchair, Draco was leaning against the back of it. "This means he is back, doesn't it? Please don't lie to us."

"I don't know," Regulus told her honestly because he didn't, the mark wasn't something that Voldemort had created, it was just dark magic in the end, just a curse mark, only the shape he had come up with.

 

There were certain ways in which anyone could have reactivated this.

 

And Regulus was going to rule them all out before he was even going to think about a return of Voldemort.

 

"Are we in danger?" Draco asked, none of his arrogance remained, he was a completely changed person, terrified and not even hurt by his so called friends turning their back on him once the students had gotten wind of the decision he had made. Regulus still hadn't managed to fully get out of him what Abraxas had done to get him out of Hogwarts and into Stevan's hands for him to have been there at that stupid rally turned battle.

"No one is in danger," Remus clarified, he could play at being way more calm than Regulus had the energy for now, he walked back over to the cupboard to hopefully finish something that came close to do something against the pain. Kreacher fastened the towel around Regulus' arm again, fingers shaking but determined, a snap later the icing spells were reactivated. "No more than already anyway but nothing will get you within these walls. We don't know what happened and as long as we don't know we will not assume the worst. There is no need to cause a panic within Hogwarts."

 

Regulus glanced over to the kids and found them all nodding, they were all too personally afflicted by this to be strong for each other, he could only hope that by sending them to their friends soon those could help. Flint and Diggory would certainly manage to keep a calm head, even if Teresa and Samentha wouldn't.

 

"Julienna, would you be a dear and run up to Professor McGonagall," Remus continued speaking while he was messuring up something Regulus couldn't see without moving too much, "she is currently teaching the Second Year Gryffindors I believe, and tell her that Regulus' and mine own classes are cancelled for the rest of the day. I will explain to her later." Julienna nodded and reluctantly got up, she left with one last look sent over to Regulus. "And Kreacher, maybe go and fetch Sirius. And notify Marc."

 

Regulus had no strength to argue so Kreacher only sent one last wet-eyed look to him before he snapped himself away to alarm the ones who would turn this into a bigger drama than it already was.

 

\--

 

Regulus was about to argue that Sarena and Draco could certainly leave, huddled in the corner around an armchair as they were but she was too pale and too trembling for him to propose for her to return to her friends, and Draco was so frozen in shock that he didn't have the heart to send him along with her, let alone tell him to go back to the common room alone because he knew Draco's next class would have been him. And there was no way either of them would have the head now for classes anyway, and neither would probably all the students in his class who had just seen him crumble to the ground in agonizing pain. Serena's eyes were wide, scared and downright terrified and Regulus gritted his teeth to push himself up on the damn couch, Draco was switching between staring at him or avoiding looking in his general direction.

 

"It's gonna be okay," he croaked out again for a repeated time and hated himself for the weakness, over by the medicine cabinet Remus turned around, a silent figure in the background now, "I don't know what this means but we'll figure this out. No one is in danger in Hogwarts." He had just finished those words when the fireplace crackled and Sirius jumped out.

 

"Show me."

 

"One moment, brother," Regulus hissed and nearly slipped down the couch again, eyes quickly focusing back on his shaken Prefect. "Go and find Julienna and the others, Sarena. Stay with her tonight, if someone comes bothering, you tell them they can take it up with me." He told her and she nodded as she climbed to her feet again, between the girls, Diggory and the Weasley twins, Sarena and Julienna would be fine and taken care of for the rest of the day and the night.

"Thank you, Regulus," Sarena mumbled quietly, grabbed her cloak and then hurried from the room, Regulus dropped back into the couch, watching how Sirius observed the Fifth Year's departure.

 

"Draco, stay here for now, I don't want you to be alone right now and the girls can't smuggle you into Ravenclaw Tower like they can each other." Regulus mentioned and Draco rounded the armchair, quietly sinking down into it, watching Sirius because that was easier at the moment. The first time those two had met face to face had been about five minutes after the events in Edingburgh and it could have gone better but also a lot worse, Sirius and Regulus both undestood the pressure and the strain Draco had and was still under, but Sirius certainly had more experience over making life changing decisions at a younger age than Regulus had, especially when those decisions turned you away from your family and your friends.

 

Though in Draco's case those decisions had brought him back to the family who actually cared about him.

 

"Who was the girl? Looks familiar." Sirius commented as he got down on one knee at Regulus's side, still watching the door where Serena had vanished through moments ago.

"Sarena Rosier, Evan's daughter," Remus explained before Regulus could and then crouched down by Regulus' side again as well, holding out a cup, "Here, not perfect but it'll do." Wasn't that something Regulus did not like to hear about potions, but he didn't have the energy to protest, let alone the strength to do the job himself right now.

 

"How many Death Eater children do you have running around this school, just an estimate?" Sirius wanted to know with an air of casualty that rattled Regulus in all the wrong places, he sent a toxic look towards his brother while he swallowed down the vile stuff that was meant to mend pain. "Just so I can make myself picture of how many innocent children we need to save now."Sirius defended himself with half a snarl.

 

Remus and Regulus exchanged a look before both of them turned their surprised faces back onto Sirius.

 

"Oh, come on, don't look at me like that." He scowled at them, Draco was quietly watching their antics. "I've made this mistake once, I will not let another kid fall victim to these maniacs because I didn't try to stop it. Evan's girl, looked positively spooked out of her mind." And as the potion worked and Regulus could breathe easier again, thoughts and words came easier and quicker as well. Sirius helped him sit up more.

"She is terrified of Stevan and what he could do, he's never made a secret out of disapproving of her friends and wanting to find her an appropriate match." Regulus reminded his brother and Sirius made a face, they had once both been in that situation as well, in wildly more inappropriate ages. "He's never even approved of Flint at her side. And her mother is even worse. I'm more than glad that Silvan asked me if Serena can stay with Liv and me until he had time enough to sort out his house and send his daughter-in-law for the hills."

 

"Who wouldn't be scared of Stevan in her situation?" Remus's question hit rhetorically and brought the cup back to the cabinet, swinging his wand to rinse it out.

"Yes, indeed. It's wonderful but I can still gladly say that most of Slytherin is shying away from them. They want a life for themselves, not fear, not terror." Regulus added with a smile in Draco's direction who gave him a shaky one back.

"I'm more worried about Ravenclaw to be honest," Remus added with a grimace, "There is something growing in there that I don't like. How are you feeling?"

 

"Like I was rolled over by a train. We should inform Dumbledore, this," Regulus held up his wrapped arm, Remus flinched away but Sirius came closer, dropping down on the corner of the couch, "this is not good. This is not possible. He's gone. I don't know whatever this thing with Quirrel was, the diary was a..." thankfully reminding himself of Draco's presence in time, Regulus changed the word he wanted to use at the last second, "artifact and it was destroyed. He can't be back."

 

He couldn't come back.

 

Not until they had all his horcruxes found and destroyed, not until they could kill him for good.

 

"Harry's scar?" Sirius wanted to know and looked over to Remus who worked his jaws, Regulus sure hoped the boy hadn't gone through the same pain as he had, it was worse enough to go through that as a grown man, no kid should feel that agony.

"I hadn't had the time yet to get to him." Remus deadpanned because when a student came running into your classroom and supposedly announced to you that Professor Black had just collapsed screaming, your first instinct was probably not to go check on Harry Potter. "Stay with Reg, I'll go."

 

"You didn't tell Liv, did you?" Regulus turned to look at his brother as Remus fetched his cloak from the table in the corner and then left.

"No, she was still at work. Marc was in the Ministry but Kreacher send him a message. Kreacher is also looking after Jack now, breathe, okay? It's gonna be okay." Sirius insisted and set a hand upon Regulus' shoulder, Regulus though had to think of Liv now, of seeing the fear in her eyes when she saw what happened, he had to think of Jack and having to explain to his little boy why his father's arm looked so scary now. "Draco, can you fetch me the cookie box from the shelf next to you."

"Sirius, I am a fingertip away from throwing up." Regulus protested and just the thought of food made him go squeamish as Draco got up to get the box.

"You need to eat something, otherwise that pain concoction is gonna have you puking all night..." Sirius argued and Regulus knew he was right, his brother took the box when Draco held it out, "Thank you, Draco. And it's gonna be okay, your mother is safe, _you_ are safe. We won't let anything happen to you. Lucius is not going to get close to you." Draco nodded weakly and then shuffled back to the chair in the corner, Regulus choked down an oats cookie.

 

"Does the Order have a list of Death Eaters who were pardoned?"

 

"Emmeline made one."

 

"Good." Regulus commented and as his stomach vaguely fought against food and keeping it down, he let his mind go somewhere he would have never expected. But there was Draco looking scared, there were his four girls who were terrified and in such danger already, there were Liv and Jack who were just helpless against this threat. There was only one way to act now. "Sirius," he began and looked over to his brother, "I changed my mind about the Order."

 

\--

 

"We can still get together, though, right?" Samentha's voice was swimming somewhere between grave acceptance of the impossible and careful hope, Regulus hated that these girls were just as downtrodden as the majority of the students as this school year came to an end. And aside from a few, none of them even knew about the other non-Dark Circle threat haunting over their heads. Walking between Teresa and Julienna in front of him, Samentha continued as they made a slow walk down the path to Hogsmeade along among the other students and some teachers.

 

They didn't let anything happen unsupervised outside of Hogwarts anymore now.

 

"I mean it doesn't have to be Diagon Alley or London at all but we can get together at like..." and Samentha stocked a little because 'our places' was not available anymore, "my place?" Samentha finished her question and send a look up over her shoulder to where Serena was walking next to Regulus. "I mean, or at Teresa's? That should be possible, right?"

"If those places aren't deemed safe enough, you can come together in Grimmaudplace," Regulus stopped being a silent observer of their depressed chatting, he wanted to give them some hopes for fun times. "You all know it already, and nothing gets in there. If your parents have any concerns they can owl me."

 

He got a "thank you, Professor" back in a chorus as the train station built itself up between the trees, Draco was talking with Marcus Flint on the steps, the Weasley twins and Cedric were standing with Lee Jordan a little ways off. Teresa and Samentha were going to join them for the train, Julienna, Laureen, Draco and Serena were going back to Grimmaudplace with Regulus through a portkey he had ordered a few days ago.

 

He let the girls make their goodbyes for now and walked onto the platform to fish Laureen out from her gaggle of friends.

 

**\--**

 

Once Laureen was found and sent off to her sister and Serena, and Samentha and Teresa had stepped onto the train with the boys, Regulus found himself approaching Marcus still talking with Draco. Another generation of Slytherins graduated and this one let go with the best feeling yet, Marcus had only last week accepted the offer that Puddlemore United had made.

 

He was following Oliver Wood who had signed only two days prior, and to Marcus' parents even more growing horror, he had picked an apartment with the Gryffindor. A huge step, they might not have admitted their relationship to anyone outside of closest confidantes and Oliver's parents yet but Marcus had shown his parents that he was willing to do whatever he needed to be happy. And if that left them angry then it was their problem, not his.

 

Regulus couldn't be prouder of him.

 

"Alright, I hate to break this up but we gotta go, Draco." Regulus stepped up to them, the platform was emptying and the train would leave any moment now. Marcus was in no rush, he wouldn't take the train back to London, instead he would apparate to Dorset directly. "Take care, Marcus, and don't hesitate to reach out if there is trouble." Sirius had been annoying as ever in trying to needle Regulus into proposing some of the graduating students for the Order but Regulus had nearly raised his hand wand at his brother, he wanted these kids to have a life, it was bad enough that Sirius had roped Dora into everything and hence dragged Bill Weasley along.

 

They were just too young.

 

"Thank you, Regulus. For everything." Marcus told him and then reached down to grab the handle of his trunk, Regulus patted his shoulder and then watched Marcus walk down the platform to where Oliver was waiting at the far end of it. They had stopped caring about anyone seeing them together in at least a friendly way the day Regulus' mark had returned, they were sick of hiding and Regulus understood them so well. The train took off as well and Regulus waved to a few students still before he nudged Draco off the platform.

 

"Your Mom is excited to see you again and we shouldn't let her wait any longer," he mentioned and Draco grinned, happy to get to a place he could for now call home and not be afraid to step into. Once they reached the girls, Regulus pulled out the scarf and everyone grabbed onto it, he activated the spell on it and then they were being dragged away, right into the backyard of Grimmaudplace where Jack gave a shriek but then immediately afterwards came running over.

 

Everyone got a hug because he loved hugging, even Draco whom he had only met once so far, and then Regulus got to pick him up. Jack pushed up until he could knock his forehead against Regulus' own, "Summer?" He demanded to know because the last time Regulus had left to go to Hogwarts for the end of year spurt of stress and little time, he had explained to Jack that the next time he was coming home it was for the whole summer.

 

"Summer." He agreed and Jack grinned, swinging his arms around his neck to squeeze tight, the girls cooed, Draco smiled. A smile that got even brighter when he looked up and spotted Narcissa standing in the backdoor.

"Mum!" He called out and finally he let himself act like a fourteen year old boy who was not forced into being cold and heartless, Draco rushed over and Regulus didn't fool himself that Narcissa was crying just a little when she wrapped her son into her arms. The little time they had been able to have when Regulus had brought Draco home from Stevan's kidnapping hadn't been enough to make up for the long separation.

 

Adrienna squeezed herself past them and came over, hugging her daughters and Serena together in one big pile.

 

"You ready for summer?"

 

"So ready." Regulus answered her even though the question had been meant for the girls, Adrienna rolled her eyes so he stuck his tongue out at her and then hurried away before she could punch him in the arm. He found Liv in the kitchen, making dinner plans with Kreacher and looking through what they needed in groceries.

 

Oh, it was good to be home.

 

\--

 

"Have we asked ourselves yet if Reg is the only one whose mark came back?" Adrienna asked when Liv and her carried some snacks into the drawing room on the next evening. Jack was asleep and Serena had either figured the TV out downstairs or she had given up and picked up a book but she was silent. Regulus snorted and spread his arms wide so Liv could settle back down against him on the couch, Liv had picked the second most comfortable furniture for the drawing room.

 

Heavenly comfortably and looking amazing in the one room that had been kept mostly intact during his renovations because the tree was important to him, restored as it was.

"It's not like we have an abundance of former Death Eaters at hand who would be happy to roll up their sleeves," Marc deadpanned as Adrienna handed him the cup of tea he had wanted and then sat down next to him again on the other smaller couch. Regulus had a brief moment to be puzzled over the twitch that Adrienna gave over Marc's words but he brushed it off quick enough.

 

"We might," Regulus said instead and all eyes turned him, "if Dumbledore comes around and finally tells us where he keeps Snape hidden." He mentioned and Adrienna and Marc both pulled a face. "Unless he's dead, I never really asked myself what might have happened to him. Dumbledore simply said it was dealt with when I asked years ago."  
"Dumbledore doesn't even know yet what has happened," Marc held against it and Regulus shrugged, it was hardly his fault that Dumbledore was gone again, life changing events and returning Dark Marks rarely waited for all involved people to be available.

 

"What about Azkaban," Liv spoke up as well and took Regulus by surprise with it, she had quickly found a very good understanding of the magical world. She was more comfortable in Diagon Alley than Regulus was in a muggle grocery store."Shouldn't it be relatively easy to take a quick peak at one of them there?"

"That would mean alerting the authorities to it," Regulus held against it, "and I'd rather avoid that as long as possible, they would only ask too many questions. We still don't have a Minister, there are still too many loose canons too high up in the Ministry." He reasoned and Liv nodded, understanding, he kept on playing with her fingers.

 

"We could work around that if we inform the Order," Marc proposed, completely calm and straight faced, and yeah, Regulus had known that dating Vance was gonna end up with his best friend siding with the lunatics at some point. "And don't look at me like that. You're the one who told Sirius he wants to talk about joining."

"Yes," Regulus grumbled, his brother had jumped for it like a dog for a bone, how unsurprising, "After I had just had one of my worst nightmares have come true in agonizing pain!" He bit out and snapped his mouth shut again when Liv soothing stroked over his arms, fingers not shying away from the mark on his lower left arm.

  
Something that had loosened the know in his heart at least a little bit.

 

Liv wasn't scared of it and Jack didn't understand why Papa could draw on himself and he couldn't.

 

"Fact is," Marc stretched the words and Regulus scowled at him for a second when Marc just grinned, "We have means to find answers to that question if we go to the Order with it. Emmy has a list of pardoned Death Eaters, none of whom aside from Regulus are gonna be cooperating without official Ministry intervention but Kingsley Shacklebolt is high enough in the Aurors do get permission for a trip to Azkaban."

 

"I'll bring it up with Sirius tomorrow."

 

"Do we really consider the chance that Regulus is the only one?" Liv wanted to know curiously as she stretched to get some chocolate cookies, breaking one in half and feeding one half to Regulus. "i mean I get by now that Voldemort's old circles are seriously pissed off at him but deliberately targeting him like that seems a bit... overkill." She scrunched up her nose at the choice of her final word and Regulus kissed the side of her head to smoothe it out again.

"I don't think it's even possible to bring just one back, the curse and the magic behind it is quite dark and twisted," he explained and was glad that the mark didn't stick out so much against the dark shirt Liv was wearing.

 

"Are we really not going for the he's back theory option?" Adrienna asked and stuffed her face with cookies right after, Regulus and Marc glanced at each other and then quickly looked somewhere. "Listen," Adrienna continued with a half full mouth, and how she raised so well mannered girls was beyond Regulus, "I know that you don't want to tell me about your secret trips to keep me safe and I get it, I don't need to know, but just... he could come back, right? He's not really dead."

 

"No, he isn't," Regulus confirmed for her and breathed in the small of Liv's hair to keep his chest was squeezing painfully. "But he is also not back, and don't ask me why I know. I just... I would feel it, this," and he raised his arm away from Liv's stomach, "this feels different. And now let's talk about something else, we didn't get together to dive even deeper into what plagues us during the day. We wanted to have a relaxed fun evening."

 

"What do you propose to talk about, Reg?"

 

Oh, Marc, making it so easy.

 

"I wanna talk about Emmeline Vance and you."

 

Marc glared, Liv and Adrienna jumped for information. Regulus grinned and took a cookie from Liv.

 

\--

 

"So, someone tell me better right away why I should accept him among us."

 

Regulus took a deep breath to keep his frustration controlled in light of Moody's unshaded open mistrust, his one good eye and the creepy spying one were staring holes in him, that battered face sneering in his direction. Only flickering away then and now to take Marc into focus but he had apparently long since decided that Marc posed no threat. To Regulus' horror or maybe relief, the jury wasn't out on a decision yet, Adrienna had jumped into the Order with shocking glee and been welcomed with open arms. He was glad her girls had more eyes looking out for them yet but Adrienna and vigilantilism was not supposed to go in the same sentence together unless there was some heavy cursing involved.

 

"I think he has by now proven himself to be firmly standing on our side," Remus came to Regulus' defense and Sirius was tense next to him, eyes glaring in Moody's direction, "He has valuable information, he had good contacts. He wants to help." Regulus knew that despite appearing as calm as ever, Remus had a hand resting on Sirius' thigh under the table that could quickly turn into nails digging into flesh to keep Sirius from lashing out.

"Remus has a point, Alistair. Regulus has..." but Sirius could get very far with his point, contrary to most others Moody wasn't seeing Sirius as the new leading figure in the Order, despite the fact that Sirius had been the one to collect them all together again, had brought new members in, found them a new safe HQ and gotten Dumbledore's approval.

 

If there was a gold star for vigilantilism, Sirius would get it and portray it happily from his forehead.

 

"Oh yeah, like I'm gonna listen to a word you're saying, Black." Moody snarled out and Sirius flashed his teeth at him, Regulus could sparsely believe that Remus had told him that Moody had basically adored Sirius back in the first war like some kind of protege. "You couldn't be trusted with handling this situation without bias thirteen years ago, sure as hell not now. So, is there anyone else who might throw their weight in for the rat?" Regulus narrowed his eyes at Moody for the last word, unwilling or not but the comparison to Pettigrew rolled up something ugly in his chest, Marc stepped on his foot under the table and brought it down again.

 

Regulus also found himself surprised when next to Dora, Minerva, Filius also Kingsley, Hestia and Emmeline raised their hands. He had had dealings with Kingsley during the pardoning process and even more later on when the Aurors and Hitwizards had been looking for Sirius. Hestia worked with Ted and was Emmeline's best friend, and Emmeline had actually turned into Marc's girlfriend.

 

Miracles did exist.

 

"Alistair, I believe we all understand where your... hesitations are coming from," Minerva spoke up when silence lasted and Regulus briefly met her eyes, "but Regulus has proven again and again on whose side he is standing, openly and publicly. We had bad apples, we got betrayed, and we learned from it, it won't happen again. Regulus has information, he has experience and furthermore Mister Selwyn and he have a good high respected standing. Which is not something a lot of people in this group can claim, and in the end what we are doing here is still illegal in the eyes of the Ministry."

 

Moody grumbled but stopped protesting.

 

And then Dumbledore finally turned up after all and with his final word on the whole matter, the Order of the Phoenix had gained three more members.

 

Maybe in a week Regulus might be happy about it. This wasn't about making new friends, this was about getting something done against the evil crawling up their walls, if it came with heavy scrutiny and doubt and mistrust, then Regulus was gonna take it.

 

For now they could finally get to business.

 

\--

 

"And there is another thing," Sirius finally went to the dark shadow sitting at the back of their hearts and he sent Regulus a look, "Show them." And under the eyes of everyone in the room, Regulus looked over to Dumbledore, singling him out on purpose, and then rolled up his left sleeve.

 

A row gasps, hands thrown up in front of open mouths from those who hadn't known, only Sirius, Remus, Marc and Adrienna remained calm. Dumbledore's face turned to stone.

 

"When?" He wanted to know and sat up straighter, blue eyes getting colder and more pensive and Regulus wanted to snap at him that he could have known about this earlier if he had been around to do his fucking job and duty for longer than one speech at the end of the year feast.

"A week ago." He said instead, calm and composed, he wasn't anywhere near to accepting it but he was no longer freaking out when he caught sight of it in the mirror or during the day by going about his life. It wouldn't control him again, he had sworn himself that.

 

"So he is back?" Minerva asked and with her, Regulus could at least see where her thoughts spiralled to first, to a whole new generation of children who might be in even more danger now.

"Not neccessarily," Regulus got to explain and comfort her worries, "In the end the Mark is just dark magic. Voldemort did brand all of his followers himself but he didn't create it, nor was there any trick behind him being able to call them via this. It's a spell, old, dark, evil. It can't be reversed but it's just a spell, there is no piece of him in every Dark Mark." Those few who knew about the horcruxes flinched, Regulus had no desire to make that common knowledge and he had told his brother as much and shockingly enough Sirius had agreed.

 

"So what you're saying is that just because the mark returned, it doesn't have to mean that You-Know-Who is back?" Emmeline Vance wanted to know, rational minds for the salvation, Regulus knew why he liked her, so he nodded. "If we pretend for a moment that Rosier has anything to gain over it, what would he need to achieve reawakening the mark?" That was easier to answer than the why Regulus had expected.

"Voldemort's wand and someone with a mark." He listed down and kept his eyes mostly on those members who watched him without any hidden doubt, he also kept his eyes away from Dora and Bill Weasley. He didn't want them here, they were too young, it was bad enough to know that Dora's job needed her to go after bad guys, she didn't have to make it her hobby as well. "The latter they can come by easily enough, it's the first I can't explain."

 

"What happened to the wand after he...after what happened in Godric's Hollow?" Emmeline threw the question into the room, her face shutting down in a shadow of pain, Regulus knew by now that she had known many of those who had lost their lives in the first war. She'd been close friends with Lily Potter and Alice Longbottom most of all.

"We didn't find anything when we searched the house." Kingsley noted and exchanged a look with Moody, who had been the one leading the investigation back then.

 

"Peter?" Remus turned to Sirius who agreed with a bitter, "Peter." And both of them tensed with stress and guilt and anger, faces turning dark, that wound had festered too much to ever fully heal.

"Must have taken it and hidden it somewhere." Sirius grumbled and he avoided everyone's eyes, staring a hole through the tabletop. Regulus didn't know where they were, his brother had brought Marc and him here with senses dulled to keep the HQ of the Order a secret location until they were firmly sworn in but the house was a decent size and furnished nice enough.

 

"Somewhere where Rosier found it now."

 

"What is your gut telling you, Regulus?" Dumbledore pushed and Regulus glanced over to him, since they had destroyed the horcrux in the ring and Remus and Marc had hidden it somewhere safe, Regulus had thought the old man would return to Hogwarts and do something against the dark tendrils reaching for influence there. But he had been gone as much as before, and now the school year was over and the children were right in the open, right in the center of pressure from parents and families in many cases.

 

And now they were also coming to the topic finally that he wanted to discuss because two days ago while bringing Teresa back from a hangout with all girls at Grimmaudplace, Mister Fawley had invited Regulus in for a private conversation. And the game had changed.

 

He took a deep breath, "My gut is telling me that I thought I knew what to expect because I thought I had Stevan all figured out." He explained, tried to explain, it wasn't easy because he had been so wrong. He had thought he had understood these boys but one piece of information and he had failed even more.

 

"But you don't?" Emmeline pressed and looked over to Marc who gave her a grimace, so far he was the only one who knew because Remus and Sirius had been too busy yesterday.

"No, I still understand his motivation and his intentions quite well, he's his father's son, in all that entails." Regulus pointed out and he noted that everyone was listening, no one in this room knew the Rosiers like he did, not even Adrienna or Marc, this family had been his second family, his true one as it had felt like for a long time. Silas Rosier had been kind, supporting, encouraging and protective as long as you danced after his fiddle, the second you stepped out of line you paid for it painfully and heavily. "No, the problem here is: Stevan is not the one leading the Dark Circle, he's not the one pulling the strings." And that had been a slap in the face, an ice cold realization because Regulus knew him, Regulus understood him, Regulus could read him, none of that he could say about the other variable. "We were wrong. He's the right hand man. The one at the top is Thomas Fawley."

 

"And that means we have a huge problem." Marc followed it up with the right assessment, it was the first time he had spoken up in an hour, eyes slipped over to him, no one showed him any mistrust, the only shadows on his white vest had been friends he had left when he had seen their choices. And he was the son of the man who was more and more crystallizing to become the new Minister of Magic.

"Why? What makes that boy so much more dangerous than Stevan Rosier?" Remus wanted to know, he had never taught either of those boys, but he had been seeing the echos of their presence even two years later. Echoes that very visible within Hogwarts even without the Dark Circle side, Stevan and Thomas had been bullies.

 

And then it was time for the bomb.

 

"Thomas Fawley is a Metamorphagus."

 

People either gaped in the next moment or swept their eyes over to Dora who stared at Regulus in a mix of shock and disbelief.

 

"I shared my entire Hogwarts time with him and Rosier. They were Slytherins but you still share some classes and run into each other. And no one knew that about Fawley." Dora gave voice to her thoughts and next to her Bill was frowning, too.

" _I_ didn't know, Dora." Regulus told her and resisted the urge to push a hand through his hair. "Not until I talked to Mister Fawley again two days ago. Thomas saw it as something unnatural, he didn't want anyone to know, that is why they never even told the teachers." Dora went from frowning to livid immediately, she had never been anything but really proud of her skills, of this talent that set her apart from anyone else.

 

"So, great," Hestia deadpanned and her face pretty much summed up the new wave of frustration rolling over the group, "the leader of the Dark Circle can hide as anyone. That's making everything so much easier." The sarcasm was strong in that one.

 

\--

 

"I'm not him."

 

Moody stopped in putting on his coat and slowly continued after a long pause before he turned around to face Regulus who felt compelled to go on by that gesture alone.

 

"I understand that you cannot trust me, the feeling is mutual." He deadpanned and they were standing in the entrance corridor of this bloody house that Sirius had commissioned as a new Order HQ. This wasn't the right place or the right time but Regulus had had enough. "But I want it to be for the right reason, disapprove of my involvment because of the mark, because of my family history but don't do it because of my friends. I'm not Evan, and I'm not Barty either. I'm not them, and I condemn their crimes. I will live with the knowledge that one day my goddaughter will look at me and ask me why my best friend killed her father but you have _no right_ to demand the same from me. And what Barty did to the Longbottoms with the Lestranges is unforgivable and I am torn apart by guilt every single time I lay eyes on their son. I am not responsible for it, hate for me for the choices I made, Moody, not for theirs."

 

"You can't trust me because I killed him."

 

"No, that's not right. I can't trust you because you wouldn't protect my father." And then it was out, this thing that had kept biting at him ever since he had returned to the public eye and found out that Moody had worked so hard against him being pardoned. Moody froze, his face turning even angrier and coler than Regulus had seen him tonight, behind him steps were approaching.

"Orion made choices." Moody said with a voice devoid of any emotions, "I made mine. And I have to live with the consequences, just like you do."

 

Once upon a time in another life there had been two boys who had been best friends.

 

Until war tore asunder what pureblood mania hadn't achieved.

 

"Do you know what happened the day after my father was killed?" Regulus demanded to know from the older man who had been a regular visitor at their house still when he had been a little boy, the person approaching from behind turned out to be his brother but Regulus didn't stop. "I was in Hogwarts, doing homework when my mark started burning. It was the first time that he called me, just me, and I was terrified but I left anyway because I had no choice. He made me kneel, made me promises that the traitors would pay for spilling good blood. He didn't even name him, didn't call him my father, just called it 'good blood'. It was the day my doubts started, so maybe I shouldn't hate you, maybe I should thank you. You didn't save my father when you could but in a twisted turn you maybe saved his son." He spit the last words out and Moody showed a twitch of a reaction in his stone face.

 

"Regulus..."

 

"No, I want him to look at you, brother, and tell you why he chose to disregard a real threat to our father's life just because our father didn't renounce Voldemort's name." Regulus made his accusation clear and he saw how Sirius went from disapproving to shocked, they had never talked about their old man's death, not really. And Regulus had spent so long debating over how to tell his brother what he had found out that the timing just felt too awful at some point.

"How did you find out about it, Regulus?" Moody was equally surprised and Regulus narrowed his eyes at him, he couldn't help it, he saw a tiny wound in Moody's emotional armor and he tore into it.

  
"Silvan."

 

"That man is surely giving you a lot of secret information." Moody growled and Regulus kept his spine straight, Silvan had never gone to any illegal means to gain his information, he simple had known and still knew the right people.

"What are you gonna do about it?" He wanted to know, arms crossed over his chest in a defense mechanism because Moody might be fighting for the same side he was standing on now but Regulus was also still facing the man who had killed his best friend. Independent of allegiances, he just couldn't forget that. "Take another son from him? Even one who isn't his own blood?"

 

"Reg! That's enough, you're really going too far."

 

No one listened to Sirius.

 

"I'm not going to cower in front of you because of a mark on my arm, Moody." He went on when he felt like he had Moody on a hook, "Stop expecting me to stab you in the back, that's not my style. And it isn't Marculus Selwyn's or Adrienna Greengrass' either. And it sure as all _hells_ wasn't Evan's." Evan had never been a coward, and stabbing people in the back had nothing to do with cunning, it was just simple cowardice. "If I want to hurt you, destroy you, I'm gonna look in your eyes. And you will see me coming."

"No doubt in that." Moody answered him, voice sharp but Regulus could also see some kind of gruff acceptance in that one healthy eye. "We all saw how you dealt with Malfoy."

 

"Mad-Eye, can you cut it out!"

 

Once more Sirius was yelling into the void.

 

"Lucius Malfoy threatened my family. He told me how he would prefer to kill my son!" Regulus let his voice raise up because no one would dare threaten his son without paying for it. "You don't have kids, Moody, you don't know how it _feels_. Lucius furthermore threatened his own son, my goddaughter and her friends, simply because their lives weren't moving in the direction he wanted. He deserves to pay for it."

"I will work with you in this," Moody told him as he finally finished with his coat and grabbed his walking stick again, "but I can only warn you to remain within the line."

 

"I've been better in keeping within the lines since the war ended than you can claim for yourself."

 

Moody huffed and then left through the front door, disapparating one step out.

 

"First meeting and you had it out with Moody. Merlin, you fit in crazy good."

 

" _Shut up_ , Sirius."

 

**\--**

 

When the world around you had too many sides competing with each other to be the bigger annoying bastards, you had to focus on the little things to keep your head from exploding, and sometimes those little things meant pretending nothing was happening. So when Liv had to work longer before inviting the girls over for some art fun, Regulus took Jack into the park for some fun that included less to no magic.

 

And as he was throwing a ball around with Jack among other parents playing with their kids, chasing after them in the summer sun or watching their kids have fun on the nearby playground, he couldn't help but wonder again how different his life might have been if his mother had ever cared about children at all aside from them being a necessity for the duration of the family name. How different it might have been if his father had cared sooner, if he had cared enough when Sirius and him had been children, when they had truly needed him as a father still because they hadn't yet looked somewhere else for it.

 

Would Orion Black have ever thrown a ball with his sons if that hadn't been considered demeaning as a pureblood? Would he have taken his sons into the park if he hadn't been a Black but just a nobody?

 

Would he have ever felt like the stress of work and vigilantilism was just wiped away when baby teeth were grinning at you before a small body came running over and just threw himself at you? Would he have ever played along and safely tumbled them to the ground to play defeated? Would his heart had filled with so much wamrth upon hearing his son laugh completely out of control because he was having so much fun? Would he have forgotten the world around himself just to focus on the happiness of a little boy?

 

Because Regulus did.

 

For hours.

 

"Papa, Papa, Papa!" Tying a shoe immediately got abandoned to save Jack's ice from making a dash for it out of the cone and maybe they were both sticky with it immediately afterwards but what did Regulus care when his little boy went back to stuffing his face with sugar and grinning brighter than the face while doing so. Regulus was sticky and sweaty in the afternoon sun, he had grass stains on his pants and dirt on his shirt, he had sand in his shoes and a rip in one sock but he was having so much fun.

 

They were sitting on the blanket Liv had given him this morning still, one with yellow ducks and red fish and Regulus didn't feel awkward at all. Jack was munching on his ice cream and kicking his bare feet because he had already somehow managed to lose his socks and his shoes were uncomfortale without them. Regulus knew that he could have the socks back in a heartbeat with a little spell but he didn't care, it wasn't important. Just as it wasn't important that he could have them clean in just as little time, a tissue worked for now as well, he could clean them up before they went home.

 

When Jack was done and looking less like he had jumped head first into a tub of ice cream, Regulus let himself be pulled over to the playground. They had a swingset at home now, so Jack didn't much care for that anymore, but the slide they had in the garden was tiny compared to the ones here. Maybe some parents thought it was boring to stand at the end of a slide and catch a shrieking child, only to watch them run back up and do it all over again but Regulus couldn't get enough, snatching Jack up when he came barreling towards him, using the momentum to swing him over his head. To see those blue eyes grin in happiness and glee and joy.

 

His parents had gotten two children, simply because with two one of them had to turn out alright, and with two they could annoy each other and play with each other and would leave them alone. Regulus and Liv wanted more children in the future but they wanted it because they wanted more moments like this, not less. Regulus wanted to see more glowing eyes and more bright grins, he wanted to hear more sugar high induced shrieking and happy giggling.

 

He just wanted more of this happiness.

 

When Regulus returned home with a sleepy Jack dozing against his shoulder shortly before dinnertime, he found his living room looking like an art explosion but the girls and Liv looked happy so he said nothing. And they had left his armchair empty and untouched so he took that as another sign of acceptance.

 

"You wanna join?" Liv asked him as she came over to greet him and tickle a sleepy Jack in his lap, Regulus kissed her but also looked her dead in the eyes as his answer to that question. Liv laughed and returned to the gaggle of teenage girls and their painting.

"You wanna paint, Jack?" Regulus asked the blue eyes blinking up at him, to Kreacher's absolute horror Jack had snatched the crayons one day and gotten comfortable in the corridor outside the family tree room and had drawn his own 'pretty picture' onto the wall. Liv had insisted on making pictures before Kreacher had been allowed to clean it away. Now though, Jack only curled back against Regulus' chest and closed his eyes.

 

More of this, please.

 

\--

 

Lucius Malfoy died on a rainy Tuesday in June 1994.

 

That was the easy way to say it.

 

The other way to phrase it... it wasn't so easy.

 

They had been notified of a move the Dark Circle wanted to make against regrouped Death Eaters hiding out in a house in Bloomsbury – which to Regulus was way too close to home for comfort, it was less than an hour walk from here to Islington – by an anonymous source. Something about that irked Regulus so deeply that he would speak to his brother about it once this way over. He was aware that a group of vigilantes couldn't take the time to look into their sources, let alone spent some work on seeing if rumors were actually facts or just bloody blabbering.

 

Going out on Order business was like running around a corner at full speed, just hoping that there wasn't a wall behind it you would blindly crash into, all the while thinking you were doing something good for the world.

 

Regulus disapproved of their methods heavily, but it was bloody part of it now so he had to go out, and after the discomfort of apparating onto a townsquare, he found himself in the middle of a battle between two forces of evil. The show must have been going on for a while already because every muggle who could had fled the scene, there were no more screaming bystanders but sirens could be heard in the background and upon finding his bearings, Sirius immediately yelled for someone to avert the muggle authorities.

 

They threw themselves into duels with people who were already fighting each other but they had no interest in keeping innocents and muggles unharmed, the Order did.

 

Aside from the higher number of Death Eaters, everything was as it had been before at other times the Dark Circle had let a rally get physical. Thomas and Stevan were standing on a balcony of what looked like a rather typical apartment building of the area, passively observing. Their little foot soldiers were fighting against Death Eaters and their allies, Order members got brushed off like annoying flies. The Death Eater side was just fighting and causing mayhem because that was frankly everything they had ever been useful for.

 

For Regulus it just looked like the other times he had found himself caught up in this, and he fully expected for the whole show to come to a close soon enough.

 

He wasn't wrong, but he sure as hell also wasn't right this time around.

 

\--

 

The thing Regulus hated most about battles, fights and duels was that everything could be running within the lines but there was always, always, a point where things were swept out of control, out of control and out of order right into blinding deafening chaos.

 

And today it happened because of him.

 

One curse cast with purely ill meant intentions, deathly intentions, and everything escalated.

 

One escalation and nothing was ever the same.

 

\--

 

It started when a sudden force slammed Regulus away from casting his next spell and down to the ground, right out of the path of the Cruciatus that had been aimed at his back out of the darkness of an house entrance. And when Regulus regained the air knocked from his lungs by the push, he found Thomas, _Thomas_ , towering over him and sending spell after spell towards the hooded figure stalking from the shadows.

 

It was Lucius Malfoy, hidden beneath his Death Eater mask.

 

It was also the first time that Thomas had raised his wand in any way since those boys had started their path to devastation. Stevan had fought before, Regulus had heard about it and seen it himself, a sign of boredom for him. Thomas though had never left his watcher position up high or on the sidelines, he had never gotten his own hands dirty.

 

Until now.

 

To save Regulus.

 

None of that was making sense.

 

Hands then pulled him up and Regulus' breath was stolen from him in a whole other way when he found Stevan looking back at him once he was standing. "Go," Stevan snarled out in the next moment and pushed but he lacked the heat and the hostility. He looked almost nervous instead, like he was awaiting something to happen that he didn't like. "Leave!" Regulus stumbled a few steps back, mostly because he was just so confused and his back hurt and Thomas' unspoken spells were throwing sparks like out of control firecrackers.

 

And then he realized with absolute horror and dread and panic what Stevan was so nervous about and what Thomas was doing. "No," he screamed it out of breath and in pain but he screamed and then arms got wrapped around his chest and a hand landed on his shoulder, holding him back.

 

"NO!"

 

But there was nothing more he could do.

 

It was too late.

 

The sparks flying from Thomas' spells hadn't been accidental or out of control at all, everything had been intentional and a ring of unnatural burning fire suddenly sprung up around the still dueling Thomas and Lucius, and a just standing there Stevan.

 

Stevan who was just looking, who wasn't even holding his wand anymore.

 

"Don't do this!" Regulus screamed louder still but Sirius tightened his hold on him and Marc shook his head, both of them had as well realized what was happening. It was dark magic, dark and old magic that was known only because it had been banned for a very good reason, not even Voldemort had gone for this in his darkest torturing moments.

 

The fire burned red for a moment then and Regulus saw how Marc closed his eyes, everywhere around them the fighting had just stopped.

"Please don't do this." Regulus whispered as Lucius suddenly froze, as if a stunner had hit him, his wand dropped out of his hand, rolled into the fire and burned. Regulus could feel the magic burning in the air, could the feel the unnatural heat against his skin. "This isn't the justice he deserves!"

"He doesn't hear you anymore, Reg," Sirius said quietly right by his right ear, he sounded horrified and defeated, the man who had lived through Azkaban for twelve years, horrified. "It's too late to be stopped." In the very next moment Lucius started screaming, in agony, in horror, in sheer unimaginable pain. "Reg, close your eyes, you don't have to watch this."

 

No, he would.

 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

He would watch how the magical fire inside Lucius now turned his skin red with boiling blood, how it broke skin and veins and let bubbling blood pour out, how it melted the mask away and smoked out his eyes. He would watch how Lucius crumbled to the ground and clutched at his throat, voice dying away as the fire stile the air from his lungs.

 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

He watched how Lucius slowly died.

 

It was Moody who ultimately ended the terrifying horror show by sending a curse towards Lucius that ended his suffering from one breath to the next and the man's now lifeless body slumped to the ground, barely recognizable anymore. Those few remaining Death Eaters and sympathisants fled the scene immediately afterwards, running, fleeing, scared. Regulus still felt Sirius arm around his chest and Marc's hand on his shoulder, but they were now as frozen as he was, no one in the Order was moving, not even when Dark Circle members started to pop away.

 

None of them knew what to think right now.

 

Regulus didn't take his eyes off of Thomas now, couldn't look away from the blood splattered across the boy's shirt and face, blood dripping from his jawlines and fingertips. Those dark eyes just calmly stared back at him, empty, cold, just so indifferent to everything and everyone. Thomas only moved when Kingsley was the first Order member to disappear, certainly to alert the Aurors and get a crew here as fast as possible. Dead Muggles, injured muggles. Dead Death Eaters. One dead Circle member. Thankfully no Order member had been gravely injured.

 

And in that short moment before Thomas roughly grabbed Stevan's arm and disapparated with his frozen friend, Regulus caught Stevan's eyes and he saw something that chilled him to the core. He saw fear. And it hadn't been directed at them. Wrapped in all that anger, rage and conviction, there had been a glimpse of raw fear, directed from Stevan at Thomas.

 

\--

 

Regulus looked away from the sight of the Tower Bridge in the light of the sunset when steps announced the return of his brother. They had stepped away when the authorities had arrived to take care of the two dead muggles and three dead wizards and rearrange the memories of those muggles who might have seen something.

 

With his emotions all over the place still, Regulus had asked Sirius for a short walk down the river pier to calm his mind, Marc had assured him he would tell Liv that they were alright. They had walked for a while then, in a shift between pensieve silence and Sirius' quiet muttering over this and that, mostly over him being hungry. Which was why he had more or less placed Regulus on a bench after another ten minutes and gone off to find something to eat, promising he would only be a few minutes.

 

He held true to his words.

 

Only a few minutes after he had left, Sirius returned with greasy fish&chips and Regulus made a face when his brother pushed one of the little boxes into his own hands. "Take it, eat it. Trust me, it'll do you better than the booze." Regulus rolled his eyes but took it and reluctantly enough took a fry, a reluctance that turned into utter delight when his insides were warmed and his stomach was filled. "See," Sirius rambled out between two quick bites, "best thing ever after a fight and emotional upheavals."

 

"Still gonna take that glass of whiskey later," Regulus pointed out and then leaned back on the bench, eyes set once more on the setting sun. "I saw doubt in Stevan's eyes today."

"I saw none in Thomas Fawley's," Sirius held against it without even needing to take a breath for those words, "He didn't even hesitate to raise his wand against Malfoy. Not even for a second. Now, don't get me wrong, I won't miss the bastard, but the way Fawley took him down was... even _I_ have no words for that. And he was cold, ice cold eyes all the way through, there was _nothing_ in those eyes, nothing on that face. Not a speck of any other emotion than total indifference."

 

Regulus didn't react at first, instead he shoved some more fries into his mouth and contemplated a response while he chewed.

 

"I know what you want to hear from me," he began once he had his words together, Sirius turned to look at him, "I know what you think but you are wrong. Everyone can be saved, there is no too late as long as they are still human. Even Thomas Fawley."

"Well, maybe you are meant to be the optimist this time around," Sirius mentioned and Regulus glanced over to him, "Just make sure you don't lose yourself over trying to save a madman. Even if you bring him off his path, Azkaban is looming for that kid after today."

 

"I know."

 

"Focus on Stevan if you want to focus on saving someone," Sirius insisted gently and his eyes were worried but also understanding, "Guide him out of this abyss but keep your fingers away from Fawley, that's my advice. I looked that kid in the eyes today, little brother, and there was nothing but an endless pit of darkness in him." Freeing one hand his brother reached over to squeeze his shoulder, "I'm really glad what happened this last year, you know."

 

"Oh Merlin's beard," Regulus groaned around his last bite of fish, swallowing as he dropped the now empty box into the trash. "Please don't get sentimental on me now."

"Oh, shut up," Sirius complained and sent his own nearly empty box flying into the trash before they both looked at each other, sitting at the side of the Thames with the sun disappearing behind buildings, the sky being painted red and orange. "Just look at where we were a year ago. I was running from the law, trying desperately to reach Harry so I could prove to the world that I was innocent, that the real danger was right there in Hogwarts. I didn't know you were alive, Remus hated me. And now? Harry loves the house, the biggest thing I am currently worrying about is a cake for his summer party because this stupid fight today made me miss the appointment at the local bakery and that woman is gonna hate me now."

 

"Yes," Regulus agreed with a small smile tugging at his lips despite his initial protest against this kind of talk, "Curse Thomas Fawley for making you miss your cake appointment, he really should go to Azkaban for that." Sirius punched him lightly in the arm and Regulus laughed.

"I'm a free man again, I got my godson back. I got Remus back. Narzissa is talking to me again." Sirius listed down and grinned like a stupid dog, " _We_ made up. There is an actual path now in getting closer to defeating Voldemort's shadow for good, and this Dark Circle is not going to ruin our world either. And you..."

 

"What about me? My life wasn't terrible a year ago, my life was good," Regulus pointed out with a playful scoff to let his brother know he was joking around. "My life didn't get upsy-turvy until you broke out of prison, mister."

"Oh yes," Sirius laughed and stretched his face into the last rays of sunshine falling over them, "because everything after that was just awful. Revealing the truth about the traitor, getting your brother back, destroying horcruxes, saving Draco and Narzissa, saving Adrienna and her daughters, finding out about your best friend's daughter. Evan's regrets and his defection. Liv and Jack moving in, Jack calling you papa, you digging out Grandmother Melania's ring. Yes, it's all been just truly awful."

 

Regulus grinned up at the darkening sky, part of his mind going back to the black box in his nightstand drawer, waiting for the right moment, waiting for a quiet moment.

 

"Are you happy?" He wanted to know from his brother because yes, all he had listed down, despite all the mayhem and the Dark Circle, it had been a good year, a really good year.

"I am," Sirius was quick to answer, smiling up at the slowly appearing stars, they were far enough out of the heart of London still to see them, "I am really happy."

 

"Yeah, me, too."

 

There had been bad things throughout the school year, of course there had been. Sad moments, angry moments, frustrating moments. Downfalls and setbacks. Lucius Malfoy would not get the justice he deserved, death, even a gruesome one, had been too kind on him. Voldemort had split his soul into more parts than Regulus would have ever dreamed about in his worst nightmares. The Dark Circle had risen under the leadership of Thomas and Stevan. Barty had died, alone and mad.

 

But finally the good parts had somehow outweighed the bad ones.

 

His life with Liv and Jack was perfect, they were so happy and he knew, just knew that that ring wouldn't sit in that box for long now. He had a son now where he previously had only had a really good little buddy. They were so happy, a real little family.

 

Julienna and Sarena both knew the truth about their legacies now, the truth about their blood fathers, and both of them were eager to learn about them from friends who had known those dead men. Marc and Adrienna were still the best, still driving him crazy and Regulus didn't want it any other way.

 

Narcissa and Draco were free and safe and they were going to be happy in this second chance, they had family and friends to help with every step. Sirius and Harry had found a rhythm with each other immediately, and Regulus knew that the kid had certainly never looked happier than he had the first time he had visited them in the new house two days ago. Remus and Sirius had not only repaired their friendship but become so much closer still. Dora was going to finish her auror training soon and maybe moving into an appartment with Bill Weasley would keep her out of trouble, the boy had certainly proven he could protect her. And according to his brother, the boy's mother was glad to have him back in the country, too.

 

And Evan.

 

It didn't reach the same height of pure unbelievable happiness inside of him that Jack's first papa had, but knowing that his best friend, the boy he had loved, had regretted his choices and acted on it, had risked his life to get another horcrux and written letters proving his defection, it had reduced that gaping hole of guilt in Regulus' part to a barely existing one.

 

"We should get back, Liv will certainly worry." Sirius drew him out of his thoughts a good moment later and Regulus nodded, wordlessly getting to his feet. Sirius was chattering away over this and that, fussing over his clothes and his hair to get it just this side of messed up. He broke off though when Regulus hugged him, leaning his face against his brother's shoulder. "Woah, hey, okay." Sirius bubbled out in surprise and then hugged him back, clapping a hand to Regulus' back. "I'm glad I got you back."

 

"Yeah, me too," Regulus whispered and pulled back again, there weren't tears in his eyes or a choked up sensation in his throat, everything was just good. "Let's go home." They disapparated with smiles, left a silent bench at the Thames behind. Grimmaudplace was as equally quiet, no kids anymore out this late, houses showing lights behind curtains.

 

"So then, little brother, what's your call sign going to be?" Sirius wanted to know when they were stepping into Grimmaudplace, the door falling shut behind them, exchanging traffic noises with Jack laughing and Sarena shrieking over something. "Everyone in the Order has one, and there is no way we are not going to get you willingly accepted now." They left their jackets in the corridor and stepped into the living room where Marc and Liv stopped their conversation to look at them, just as Regulus found his answer.

 

"A black star."

 


	13. Epilogue

**Epilogue – Summer of 1994 – The Surprise**

 

The little boy was pulling at the itchy hat on his head, taking off with a deep sigh even though he really knew that he shouldn't, not when his mama had put it on him with a stern look. They were going out and Jack Shear was so excited because his papa had said they were going to the zoo and the park and Jack loved both.

 

He didn't like the hat though. He absolutely did not like the hat.

 

"Liv, have you seen my sunglasses?"

 

"Bathroom!"

 

"Why are my glasses in the bathroom?"

 

"What do I know!"

 

Jack giggled over the funny tone in his mama's voice and then climbed up on the couch in the living room, up high onto the back of it, holding himself up against the window sill. It was so pretty outside, so much sun and so many colors, so pretty flowers.

 

"Sarena, sweetheart, are you ready yet?"

 

"I can't find my sweater!"

 

If he asked nicely, Papa would carry him on his shoulders and then Jack would almost be as tall as the giraffes again. He hummed, eyes watching the people down on the street.

 

"My glasses aren't in the bathroom!"

 

"I believe your sweater is downstairs, my dear. Reg, I have no idea where they could be then."

 

"Kreacher, have you seen my glasses?"

 

"No, Master, Kreacher has not."

 

"We will never leave this house!"

 

Jack turned around with a frown when his mama laughed after having said that and he jumped down from the couch in alarm because he wanted to leave this house and he wanted to go to the zoo. He wanted to see the giraffes and the monkeys and feed the elephants and pet the ponies and the goats.

 

He wanted to go outside.

 

Leaving his stupid hat behind, he hurried into the corridor and then towards the staircase because his mama was still upstairs.

 

"I don't want to stay inside!" He cried out and looked up, his mama's face appeared from the first floor landing only a moment later, his papa looking down at him just a second after that, and Sarena turned up, too, from all the way up.

 

"Of course, we're going out, Jackie," his mama said then and her face looked funny, "Mommy is just joking because someone can't get ready because they are ignoring their wands again!" And she sent a look up to his papa and Sarena who both smiled as if they had really forgotten they had magic. Jack grunted, he really wanted to go because his papa was so busy always but today he had said he was gonna stay home and just be with them, Jack didn't mind Sarena, she was nice.

 

He stomped his feet when everyone just chuckled over his mama's words, they needed to find their stupid things so they could go. And then he blinked because his hands were suddenly holding his papa's glasses and Sarena's pink sweater, and everyone went quiet.

 

"REG!"

 

Jack blinked, stomach going all weird when his mama yelled his papa's name and then there was that loud pop and his papa was kneeling right in front of him and Jack gaped at him because he hadn't meant to do that. His papa looked surprised and Jack didn't want to cry but he felt so weird, "Hey, hey, my little champion." His papa's hands were on his face and his mama was running down the stairs, "Hey, hey, it's okay. Nothing bad happened, you helped Papa and Sarena find something. That's amazing, Jackie, okay? Nothing bad is happening."

 

Jack pushed the glasses and the sweater into his papa's hands, his papa set them to the side and then pulled Jack onto his thighs, wrapped him a hug. "Everything is okay, Jackie, everyone is okay. You wanted to help, hm? So we can finally go out?"

"I want to go to the zoo," Jack said quietly and pressed his face against his papa's chest, and then his mama was there, too, stroking through his hair, "I want to see the giraffes."

 

"And we will see the giraffes and you'll get to feed the elephants," his papa promised and put Jack back on his feet, his fingers wiping over Jack's face. "Five more minutes, okay, Jackie? Why don't Sarena and you already go out to the park and your mama and I, we'll be right behind you." Jack looked up where Sarena was walking down the last stairs, he nodded and then picked up the sweater. Sarena took it with a smile and then offered her hand, Jack held onto it tightly, his papa was smiling at him, standing up again, his mama looked a bit weird still, "Five minutes, champion, and here," his papa grabbed his sunglasses and set them onto Jack's head, "You keep them for now."

 

\--

 

The front door closed behind Sarena asking Jack what he was most excited for and Liv whirled around to stare at him with wide frightened eyes, Regulus slumped back against the wall and blew out a breath.

 

That was something he wouldn't have expected in his wildest dreams.

 

"Tell me that there is an explanation for this," Liv begged him and dragged a hand down her face, "I do not ever want to see my boy that freaked out again," he opened his arms and she walked right into them, letting him hug her to his front.

"Two explanations," he started, glad for the analytical side kicking in now where the parental worry wasn't so dominant anymore with Jack calmed down and distracted by Sarena, "He's either muggleborn, like Ted. Or he has magic in his ancestors that you didn't until now know about, considering that you know your own family and their past quite well thanks to your mother...well, there is still the side of Jack's father."

 

"This can't just be the magical house, right?" Liv wanted to know and Regulus could still feel her relax again in his embrace, both of their hearts slowing down again, "That was Jack. One of those accidental magic moments that wizards and witches can have as kids, right?" Regulus nodded and Liv pulled back to better look at him, "Our son is a wizard."

"Yeah," he agreed and they both breathed out long and deep, "And he is going to be absolutely fine. We'll explain everything to him. And now, come, we promised him the zoo and he needs to see a monkey more than ever right now."

 

"How am I gonna explain this to my parents?" Liv muttered to herself while Regulus grabbed his wallet and steered her towards the front door.

"Lucky for you, Ted can help you with all of that, my love," Regulus assured her and then called out a goodbye to Kreacher before he followed Liv out of the house into the beautiful summer day, Dark Circle or not, he was not going to not enjoy a perfect beginning of summer break.

 

Over in the park entrance, Sarena was dangling Jack over a flower bed so he could touch the yellow ones he loved so much and Regulus wrapped an arm around Liv's waist, "He'll get a very good education, though admittedly this is as good time as ever to ask Dumbledore if I'm even allowed to teach my own kids." Liv snorted, finally breaking out of the worrying state and leaning against him as they stopped next to Sarena and Jack. "You two ready?"

 

"Monkey time!" Jack declared and stretched out arms for Regulus, sunglasses dropping onto his too small nose as Regulus swung him onto his hip. Liv hooked himself under his arm and Sarena took Liv's free hand and then they were off to a day at the zoo.

 

* * *

 

 

**Post-Credit-Scene – Her Secret**

 

She took a strange form of raw satisfaction from the shellshocked nearly downright terrified look in those widened eyes as she pressed her wand against his chest and cornered him back against the brick wall. Some people sent them some curious looks but not one looked for long or even made any motion of getting between them, she was a nobody here and he was, too. Just a witch and a wizard having a little quarrel in the back corner of a side alley in the magical hub of Saint Petersburg.

 

Adrienna Greengrass quirked a perfectly shaped dark eyebrow and waited until the man a good amount of inches taller than her took off his glamour spell with a few muttered incantations until he was glaring at her from a familiar still too aristocratic face. Adrienna didn't fool herself to not believe that his hand was holding his own wand beneath his cloak by now, _his_ wand, the bloody wand she had gotten for him.

 

If anyone knew she was here with him, most of all her closest friends, they would be so angry with her for not having said a single thing.

 

"What in the bloody hell are you doing here?" He snarled because politeness hadn't been reserved for her in a long time, and truth to be told with maybe one exception he had never been polite to anyone unless he wanted something from them. She wished that one exception were with her today, just like she had wished for it the other times she had sought him out in whatever European city he had crept in for the time being.

 

"You have to come home." She went right to the point before she had even stepped back fully and lowered her wand again. She greeted him this way because it was fun, not because she still hated him or feared him. He would never hurt her, never her personally anyway and never again would he hurt her heart either. It had taken time, a bloodied nose on his end and an aching fist on hers and a long way overdue conversation but she had forgiven him for what he had done.

 

Angry eyes blinked at her and then the man they belonged to sighed loudly, he stretched out a hand and Adrienna took it, closing her eyes when the apparation took her away. Her feet touched stone a short moment later and she found herself standing in another alley, a hand holding a door open to her right that she slipped into without any hesitation, finally pushing the hood off of her head.

 

She was led into a small sitting room that was open to the even smaller kitchen, it was nothing like the wealth and grandness they had all grown up in, the one that Regulus and Marculus had turned around for themselves, made it into something solely their own. The grandness that Adrienna would have sooner run away from if it weren't for her beautiful daughters.

"You have to come home," she repeated her words while she took a seat in an armchair and watched him take off his cloak, wand being waved to make tea. As much as this was worlds away from the life he had once lived, it was still so undeniably him. "Time for hiding has run out, you have to come back."

 

"You know that I can't." He disagreed with that sentiment, avoiding to look at her as he waited just long enough for tea to be poured into cups before taking them over to the small table next to the armchair. He set it down and then pulled up a chair for himself, finally looking at her as he sat down, "Go home, Adri, be with your family. I made peace with that life. I made peace with England as well. Go home." She leaned forward, shook her head and he frowned at her, anger bleeding into this blank resolution to remain alone. "I left, Adrienna, I left it all behind. For a very good reason." The look on his face was nearly the same as the second time she had found him, after she had punched him in the face and then told him that Regulus was alive and well.

 

How for just a moment he had looked like he was willing to drop everything and throw himself right back into everything, head over heels, because the one thing he had always torn himself up over had just been a lie. The one thing he had given up everything for had just been a lie.

 

"Give me one good reason why I should even consider..."

 

"Stevan is building an army!" He stopped upon her outburst and then slowly turned around to fully face her, eyes and body and attention and pain and all, "He is building an army around himself in the name of the old ways, Thomas Fawley pulling his strings. They already have dozens of followers, and he will drag innocent lives into this that you care about. My girls, Evan, he's gonna try and take my girls for his wild horrendous fantasies, and he's gonna take your daughter, too. He knows, Evan, he _knows_. I don't know how he found out but he knows, she's not safe anymore. You have to come back, you have to protect your little girl."

 

"My father..."

 

"Your father isn't powerful enough. The only ones who can stop this nonsense are Regulus and you, _together_. Come home, Evan. If not for yourself, if not for your friends, if not even for Regulus, then do it for Sarena." Evan Rosier had been the first friend she had ever made in a boy through a vicious argument and a lot of hair pulling when they had been first years at Hogwarts, she had won that fight and he had proceeded to drag her over to his friends, back then that had only been Barty Crouch Junior and a tiny Regulus Black.

 

Evan Rosier had been her first kiss, her first date, her first break-up, her first heartache, her first real fight. All in the timeframe of Fourth Year.

 

Evan Rosier had come begging to her to protect his daughter if his family ever stopped wanting her and then he had gone out and killed the man she loved a year after they had thought to have lost Regulus forever.

 

Evan Rosier was a Death Eater who had faked his own death to get out, who had hidden himself away for the last thirteen years to escape prosecution from all sides in that war, light and dark. A step made after he had found out something over Regulus' supposed death that had shook him so hard, something he had never told Adrienna himself.

 

Evan Rosier was also the greatest hope they had left.

 

"I'll come home."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was so much fun for me to write and I'm really happy how my idea turned out in the end.
> 
> I want to work on some other stuff now but I will come back in the future with a sequel to this.
> 
> Thank you so much for reading and leaving kudos and comments!


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